


The Witch and the Warrior

by GarrettCRW



Series: The Witch and the Warrior [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-14 11:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 33,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4562538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarrettCRW/pseuds/GarrettCRW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Buffy runs into someone that she bullied at Hemery High in LA early in her freshman year at UC Sunnydale, her entire life is turned upside down. Set sometime after "Living Conditions".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Buffy and all characters are owned by Fox, I don't, etc., etc.
> 
> Author's Notes: I've stumbled upon a few Buffy/Tara stories that are based on some challenge/what-if scenario about what would have happened if Tara had been someone that Buffy terrorized Cordelia-style before she was called as a Slayer. In a fit of ego, whimsy, and the other thing, I'm doing my own take that will probably share some resemblance to those stories, but in my own personal style. This one is set some time after "Living Conditions", though I must admit I'm a bit ambivalent about directly dealing with Parker.

**Hemery High School, Los Angeles, California-1995**

"….and I was like, 'Oh, my God, Maryanne, why are you wearing that dress?' I swear to you, I will  **never**  see something so amazingly hideous again. The odds of such a thing happening again are so huge as to defy belief." Despite being a freshman, Buffy Summers was at the top of the social food chain at Hemery High, and it seemed as if nothing could depose her from her reign as Queen B. Walking down the halls with her subjects, Buffy's opinion of Maryanne's dress was swiftly revised as she came across a shy, perpetually slouching blonde girl who seemed to be trying to completely hide herself in her locker. "Of course, I could be  **utterly**  mistaken. Jesus, Tara, I understand that your family is on some sort of exchange program from the set of  _Mad Max_ , but could you at least follow the most basic rules of proper fashion? You look like the love child of an Amish person and a hippie!"

"I-I-I-I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry," answered the girl, Tara Maclay, utterly afraid of Buffy and completely ashamed that she lacked the courage to stand up to her.

"What was that?" sneered Buffy. "I c-c-c-couldn't make that out over your st-st-stutter." Buffy's friends, Jennifer, Kimberly, and Cassandra, laughed obediently at the cruel joke. Rushing to leave in a nervous panic, Tara accidentally dropped an old-looking book with the title  _Wiccan Spell Book_ , some runes, and a truly foul-smelling bag of herbs.

"Oh, gross!" shouted Jennifer.

"A spell book?" remarked Buffy as she picked up the tome and started mindlessly rifling through the pages. "What are you going to do, turn us into toads?" Queen B emphasized the point by picking up the arcane materials in Tara's arms, nearly forcing her to drop all of her books.

Completely humiliated, Tara stammered for a few seconds before turning tail and running, not even bothering to close her locker.

"God!" declared Buffy, slamming the locker shut in a fit of annoyance. "What a  **freak**!"


	2. Chapter 2

**UC Sunnydale, Sunnydale, California-1999**

Buffy was thoroughly disappointed that the Slaying was dead tonight. She'd much rather be studying, having fun, talking to Parker, or anything else, really, but at least having  **something**  to do while on patrol would make her feel better. No such luck tonight. That is, until….

WHAM!

Buffy paid for her inattentiveness as she collided with another blonde woman who was hurrying towards her destination, which sent Buffy's stake and the blonde's possessions flying as they both fell to the ground. "I'm so sorry!" blurted out the Slayer as she reached for the woman's book. Picking it up, she read the title, and froze:  _Wiccan Spell Book_. Buffy glanced over at the woman, who had gathered a brown shopping bag and a set of keys, and recognized her immediately. "Tara?"

The woman responded to her name, and recoiled with utter terror when she saw who it was she had run into. Tara snatched her spell book back fiercely, stood up, and bowled over Buffy before taking off in a dead run.

"Tara, wait!" shouted the Slayer as she got back up from the ground and grabbed her stake. Try as she might with her Slayer strength, Buffy could not hope to catch up to the fleeing witch with that sort of a head start, but she did at least keep up enough to see Tara retreat to one of the dorms.

* * *

"Worse than Cordelia?" asked Willow as she and Buffy stood outside the entrance to Tara's residence hall. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," confirmed Buffy. "I remember you being afraid of Cordelia when we first met, but Tara? I  **wish**  the vamps were that afraid of me."

"Who's afraid of you?" asked a level-headed voice.

"Oz!" declared Willow with predictable joy. Embracing her boyfriend, Willow filled Oz in. "How did you find us? Was it your wolfy powers?"

"Uh, no," replied Oz nonchalantly. "I was just walking, and saw you two here. So, what's with the hang-out?"

"Buffy ran into someone she knew while she went to high school in LA last night."

Inscrutably as ever, Oz said, "I'm guessing this isn't a good thing if you're inspiring fear in this person."

"No," agreed Buffy, "but I want it to be. Tara seemed like such a good person, and she deserved a lot better than what I gave her."

"Buffy, I'm sure you can make it up to her," offered Willow.

"But what about Faith?" countered the Slayer. "I didn't exactly win any awards there on getting her to like me."

"Well, she was evil," replied Willow uncomfortably and with more than a touch of animosity. "That doesn't count."

"Well…..maybe," offered Buffy, still not ready to write off her fellow Vampire Slayer. "You go on ahead, Will. I'm going to wait for a bit and see if Tara comes out."

"OK." Willow and Oz began to leave, but they got about ten feet before Willow turned back and said, "Good luck!" with one of her trademark hopeful smiles.

Buffy smiled back politely, but as soon as Willow was no longer looking, her smile had faded. By the time Willow and Oz were out of sight, Buffy looked downright morose. After a couple of minutes, Buffy started to worry that she'd be late for her Intro Psych class. After another minute, Buffy was preparing herself for Professor Walsh's evil glare. And three minutes after  **that** , Buffy resigned herself to just looking over Willow's copious notes. ( _OK, so I was going to do that anyways_ , thought Buffy to herself.) Finally, Tara emerged, still slouching and withdrawn with her school brooks gripped tightly to her chest, from the front door to her dorm, and Buffy rushed over to meet her.

"Tara!" announced Buffy with the nervous energy of a heavily-caffeinated redheaded witch (the normal variety, not the Willowish brand). "You ran before I could explain."

Tara regarded Buffy with a look of pure fear, which made Buffy feel even worse now that she could clearly see it in the California sun. "L-l-l-leave m-me a-alone," she begged. "You're a-a s-s-sociopath."

"That was before I was ca…er, expelled. Things are different."

"Y-you k-killed p-people at that dance," said Tara. "I-it takes more than three years to change f-from that."

"The vampires killed those people," argued Buffy. "I tried to stop them."

Tara's eyes widened in disbelief. "V-v-vampires?"

"Yes. I had to stop them. They killed Cassandra, and Merrick gave his life so I could take them out." It had been two years since Buffy last spoke of Cassandra, Merrick, and the people who died at the dance, and she found it no easier to do so now. "I had to do it because I'm a Vampire Slayer."

Tara gasped. "Y-you're the Slayer? I-I thought that it w-was just a legend."

"No, it's not," murmured Buffy. "It still doesn't forgive the horrible things I did to you before I was called, though. Can you ever forgive me?"

Tara looked away and said nothing.

"Look," replied Buffy, handing the shy witch a slip of paper. "That's my phone number and dorm room. If you you ever think you can-forgive me, I mean-or need to talk, or need help, please don't hesitate to call." With that, Buffy backed away and left, feeling slightly relieved that she had at least pleaded her case to Tara.

After Buffy had left, Tara regarded the piece of paper with curiosity, now unsure what to make of her former tormentor.


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy was sitting in the student lounge with Willow, and while the subject of conversation should have nominally been about catching Harmony and her mysterious new boyfriend or Buffy's date with Parker tonight, but mostly, it was just an exercise in moping. "She hasn't called yet, Will. I don't know if I should try to talk to her again, or what."

"Maybe you should give her all the time she needs," suggested Willow. "I mean, you did spill the whole Slayer secret on her. Plus, you have no idea what those friends of yours-"

"I'd hardly call Kimberly and Jennifer 'friends'," groused Buffy. "But yeah, I'm sure they trashed me pretty mercilessly after I got expelled."

"B-buffy?"

Willow and Buffy whipped the heads around in response to the voice, which belonged to….

"Tara!" declared Buffy happily.

Willow regarded Tara for a moment, and understood almost instantly why Buffy was so obsessed with making things right with this woman. Besides being uncommonly beautiful (though she did her best to hide it), it was almost as if she radiated waves of compassion and sensitivity. The problem is, Tara only seemed to have eyes for Buffy, which made the redhead instantly feel like a third wheel. "Well, I have that thing to do, because it's a thing that needs doing." Presenting her hand to shake, Willow swiftly added, "It was nice to meet you, Tara!"

"O-o-ok," answered Tara as she returned the hand shake. After Willow was safely out of sight, Tara asked, "I-i-is s-she always….?"

"Like that?" finished Buffy helpfully. "Yes. That was indeed the true, unadulterated Willow Babble Train leaving the station."

The blonde witch let a brief giggle escape before stifling herself out of fear. "S-sorry. I-I-I d-didn't m-mean to…."

"It's alright," answered Buffy comfortingly. "Willow knows that she babbles, and is OK with it when we tease her a little."

Tara grimaced. "Y-y-you're n-n-n-not going to m-make fun o-of my st-st-stutter a-again, are you?"

Remembering just how brutal she had been at Hemery to Tara, Buffy couldn't help but start to cry. Taking Tara's hands in her own, the Slayer looked the other woman in the eye and gave her a solemn promise. "I promise you that I will never- **never** -treat you like that ever again. That Buffy Summers is literally dead and gone."

The witch looked into the eyes of her one-time tormentor and was stunned by what she saw. Instead of cruelty and malice, Tara saw compassion, guilt, and determination. For the first time, Tara felt that she could trust Buffy with almost anything. "W-what do you mean, 'dead'?"

"At the end of my sophomore year of high school, I faced a vampire called The Master. According to this prophecy, I was fated to die." Buffy let out a deep breath before continuing. "So I quit. I told my Watcher and my ex-boyfriend-well, he wasn't even my boyfriend yet, but that's an entirely different story-that I was done, because I was sixteen, and I didn't want to die. But then some of the Master's lackeys killed the AV club, and it was Willow, with another girl we knew, Cordelia, who found their bodies. So, I went to face the Master, and he drank my blood, and left me to drown in a pool of water."

Tara was stunned. "H-how d-did you…..?"

"My other friend, Xander, found out that I had gone to die, and he went to the Master's lair, and found me dead. But he knew CPR, and brought me back to life, and then I killed the Master."

Both women were emotionally raw after the Slayer related her story. "B-buffy, I'm so sorry…."

Buffy shrugged it off as she wiped her eyes. "Don't be. It's in the past." Composing herself fully, she asked, "So, why'd you come looking for me? Surely it's not for my uplifting stories."

Tara smiled in spite of herself. "L-last night, after I-I left the library, there were these a-army guys out. Hunting."

"Really?" asked the other blonde. "Well, that  **would**  explain the slim pickings on campus….But army guys? Seriously?"

"Uh-huh," nodded the witch. "I saw them grab a vampire, and they had all this night gear on, and these huge guns, and they were using military codenames and everything. It was like the most boring episode of  _G.I. Joe_  ever. Only, real."

Considering the tale even more, Buffy asked, "If I brought you to my Watcher-well,  **ex** -Watcher, but that's a totally long story-do you think you could describe these guys or maybe sketch a picture of them or something?"

"Oh, absolutely," nodded Tara enthusiastically.

Buffy stood up, now determined. "Great. Let's go, then."

* * *

Arriving at Giles' place, Buffy barged in and shouted, "Xander!"

"Humminawhosewhatsits!" cried the young man as he tossed the books in his hands away in a manner that Tara found to be unbelievably funny and adorable at the same time. "Oh, Buffy, it's you! You could kill a man that way!"

"Xander, I thought we all agreed that you were going to die dating an evil demon." On her friend's upset expression, Buffy added, "That was supposed to be a joke. Which you did not find at all funny."

Gulping, Xander admitted, "Anya came here last night."

"Xander! What did I tell you? No! More! Demons!" Buffy emphasized her point by smacking his arm after each word.

"Trust me, I know," answered Xander. "And so does Gilllllahammmmania…" Xander was reduced to incoherent speech-like sounds as he got his first look at Tara.

"Xander, this is Tara," explained the Slayer slowly and with precise enunciation. "She's a  **girl**. You remember what those are, right?"

Xander nodded nervously before mumbling out further gibberish.

Looking at the witch, Buffy translated. "Xander says, 'Hi, Tara.'" After more incoherence, Buffy said, "He thinks you are very pretty, and wants to know if you'd like to go out tonight."

Tara blushed and nervously looked down at the floor. "Th-th-thank y-y-you, Xan-der."

Buffy "translated" for Tara, declaring, "And Tara says that she'd love to go out with you tonight, Xander." Tara's response was one of pure horror, which Buffy noticed. "Tara, what's wrong?"

"I-I-I-I c-c-c-can't d-d-date Xa-Xander," she said extreme difficulty.

"Why not?"

"I-I-I'm a d-d-demon, t-too."

Buffy and Xander blinked. Finally, Xander managed a coherent word: " **What**?!"

"Th-the women in my f-family are d-demons," admitted the witch shamefully. "I-it m-manifests when we turn 20."

Buffy had one response. "Giles!" When her former Watcher didn't respond, she shouted even louder: " **Giles**!"

When he finally emerged from his kitchen with a cup of tea, Giles apologized. "I'm sorry, Buffy, I was just busy slitting my throat at the prospect of hearing about Xander's relationship problems with Anya again."

"This is more important," argued the Slayer as Giles took a healthy sip of his tea. "Can you please tell Tara that there's no such thing as a demon witch that manifests when she turns 20?"

Giles spat out his tea. "What sort of a bloody…." Stopping himself as he realized that Buffy and Xander were still present, the Watcher resumed his usual tone of "unbelievably English". "I'm sorry, but who would ever tell you something as silly as that?"

"My f-father," confessed Tara, her head firmly pointed towards the floor.

"And suddenly," declared Buffy, "I'm no longer the worst person you've ever met."

"So, you'll go out with me?" asked Xander.

Tara blushed.

"I'm calling that a 'yes'," announced Buffy.

"Please tell me that you stopped by to do something other than get Xander a date," replied Giles.

"Oh!" remembered Buffy. "That's right! I'm here because Tara-" Buffy stopped to present the non-demonic witch as if she was the big prize on a game show-"This is Tara, by the way, who I knew when I was at Hemery-"

Xander interrupted. "I don't remember you telling us about having any gorgeous friends in LA…."

"That's because we weren't friends," declared Buffy as Giles set his cup down and started polishing his glasses. "At Hemery, Tara was Willow, and I was Cordelia. Only much worse."

Xander looked to Tara for confirmation, and she nodded. "Buffy, you're destroying the pedestal I put you on with these tales of you being like She Who Must Never Be Dated Again."

Tara let out a slight chuckle, which earned her a hurt look from the other blonde. "Anyways, I brought Tara here because she saw some 'army guys' hunting vampires on campus."

Giles and Xander's interests were piqued. "Why would 'army guys' want to hunt vampires?" asked the older man.

"Pest control?" posited Xander.

"They d-didn't kill the vampire I saw them with. They captured it."

Xander in particular paled. "They want a strategic advantage." Explaining further, he said, "So, all those demons and vampires that are stronger than normal people? If an army was able to somehow control them, they could easily take over the world. Or  **stop**  a hostile force from doing the same."

Buffy, Giles, and Tara were horrified. Tentatively, Buffy asked, "Xander, do you still have any of your Soldier Guy training or memories left that you could use to try and figure out if you're right?"

"I think so," he answered, "but it's Saturday afternoon, so I'm probably going to have to wait until Monday to get any answers."

"OK," said Buffy, nodding as if she was distracted. "Uh, Giles, is your clock set right?"

"No, Buffy," deadpanned the former Watcher, "I set all my clocks wrong for the express purpose of confusing you."

Buffy scowled back at the obvious sarcastic comment. "I need to go!" Beaming, she added, "I've got a date tonight." Suddenly realizing that she was ditching Tara, Buffy asked Xander, "Can you make sure Tara gets back to her dorm safely?" After a brief flash of realization, the Slayer declared, "I know! You and Tara can go on that date tonight!" Now totally satisfied with herself, Buffy cheerfully departed, leaving one nervous male friend and one blushing female friend.

After an extremely awkward silence, Xander asked, "So, Tara, do you want to go to the Bronze?"

Giles shook his head and groaned.

* * *

"And nobody ever found out?"

"Other than the part with Faith, not a soul." Shrugging, Xander added, "It wasn't that big of a deal, really."

Tara was floored by Xander's humility.  _If only he was a…._

"There you are!" Tara's train of thought was interrupted by an attractive brunette approaching her and Xander, with an angry look about her. And based on her date's reaction to this woman, it appeared that Xander knew her. "And you're on a  **date**?"

"Hi, Ahn," replied Xander contritely. "This is Tara. Tara, this is Anya."

"Th-the d-d-demon?" asked the witch warily.

"Former," declared Anya. "And it's Xander's fault, too. A thousand years of punishing men for cheating on women put to an end because he cheated on his girlfriend with his best friend."

"Y-y-y-you're A-anyanka?" replied Tara, "Patron Saint of Women Scorned, and the most brutal of the Vengeance D-demons?" Obviously, the blonde was familiar with Anya's work.

"And now you see why Buffy was in a hurry to set us up," said Xander. In a much smaller voice he added, "I really need to stop falling for demons."

"Well," declared Anya in typically stilted fashion, "since you obviously have no intention of continuing our relationship-"

"One date," clarified Xander, faceplaming all the while. "It was  **one**  date."

"Don't interrupt me," said Anya, clearly very annoyed. "As I was saying, since you don't seem interested in pursuing our relationship, I have decided that I will simply show you what you'll be missing while you chase after Miss Plain Jane here before I find a man more deserving of me." Anya then proceeded to slide out of her dress, which while crazy enough on its own merits, was made even more so because it left her naked, save for the high heels she was wearing.

Xander and Tara were shocked (and more than a bit turned on) while the entire Bronze stopped dead in its tracks for a full minute before Anya put her dress back on and left calmly, as if nothing had happened.

"W-w-w-w-we-well," said Tara, who like Xander was still transfixed on the spot where Anya had just stood before them naked as a jaybird, "Th-th-that was the f-first time I've ever been flashed by a d-demon."

* * *

Giles looked at his bookcase and swore. Xander's hold on the concept of "alphabetical order" was proving to be rather…..disappointing. "The alphabet. It's fairly well known," he muttered before finding the text he was looking for, and taking it to his coffee table. However, before he could look through it, his front door opened, and in came Anya, still thoroughly upset.

"I thought I told you to lock your door."

"I wasn't expecting to see you here again, Anya," answered Giles, "Ever."

Anya whispered, "Stupid men," before addressing him properly. "Well, since Xander has no intention of continuing our relationship…."

"The boy may just be wiser than I previously gave him credit for."

"Very funny." Resetting herself again, Anya continued. "Anyways, since he's rejected me for that Tara person, and since you are generally far more intelligent than him, I figure I can make my offer to you short and sweet." With that, Anya gave Giles the same show that Xander and Tara received earlier.

Giles dropped his book as Anya smiled for the first-but not the last-time that evening.


	4. Chapter 4

Willow, Oz, Xander, Tara, and Giles were immersed in research when Anya walked downstairs, wearing only one of Giles' shirts and a frown. "Rupert," she whined, "why aren't you upstairs with me?"

Willow, Oz, Xander, and Tara's eyes all grew wide with shock.

"I'm sorry, Anya, but something has come up," replied Giles frankly. Referring to the current research bender to find the Gem of Amara before Spike (and thereby prevent him from gaining use of its vampire-protecting powers), he added, "Unless you know anything about the Gem of Amara or are willing to help us research, I'm going to have to ask you to wait."

Considering her options, Anya eventually scowled before announcing, "Fine, I'll be back down shortly. But I'll have you know that I expect lots of orgasms once this is over."

The four teenagers stared as Anya went back upstairs. And after she was out of sight, their attentions collectively turned to Giles, now red-faced and polishing his glasses furiously. Finally, it was Oz who broke the very awkward silence in the room. "I'm fairly certain that that was the most disturbing thing I've ever seen in my life."

"Same here," echoed Willow, Xander, and Tara simultaneously.

* * *

Disturbing quickly became a theme for the Scoobies, as they did recover the Gem of Amara, though only after Buffy beat the living daylights out of Spike (in broad daylight, no less). Of course, a substantial reason why Spike was so thoroughly humiliated was because of his commentary on her relationship with Parker.

 _Relationship?_  thought Buffy bitterly as she walked across campus.  _That's a joke._

After getting Buffy into bed, Parker had promptly dropped all interest in her like a bad habit. Willow had tried commiserating with Buffy while walking to their shared form room, but for once, her council had been of little comfort. So now, Buffy was trying to sort things out herself…outside Tara's dorm?

Buffy couldn't help but laugh. Without thinking, she had drifted toward the newest (or was it oldest? Buffy couldn't figure out which it was) person in her life. The Parker debacle had pretty much distracted Buffy from Tara, and now the Slayer was rather upset with herself for doing so. This meant that Buffy was now pretty much obligated to visit the newest Scooby.

Once getting to Tara's room, Buffy started worrying about…..pretty much everything, actually. If Tara was a guy, she'd accuse herself of having fallen head over heels for her friend, but since she most certainly was a girl (not that Buffy had been expressly looking or anything), Buffy was convinced that she was simply worried about scaring Tara off. After a good minute of fretting, Buffy knocked on Tara's door.

The door opened, and Tara said, "Oh! B-buffy! Hi!" with a blush and a genuine smile.

Buffy swooned for an instant before asking, "Can I come in?"

"S-sure," answered the witch warmly as she gestured Buffy to come into her room. It was very dark inside, with black walls and curtains covering the window, and lit simply and sparsely by some white Christmas lights. Buffy found it to be quite cozy, with the spartan environment and scent of herbs and witchcraft giving the room an earthy, warm feel. Sitting down in a chair, she looked around and acquainted herself with the new surroundings. "Wh-what's up?"

Buffy looked at Tara and her soft features and compassionate expression….and broke down and cried. Tara rushed over to her fellow blonde and immediately began to comfort her. "Tara, am I a bad person?" asked Buffy after calming down to the point where she was merely sniffling.

"N-no," answered Tara, in a complete 180-degree turn from what she would have said a week and a half ago. "I-I think y-you're a superhero, a-actually."

Buffy smiled slightly before frowning once more. "Then why is it that all of the guys I like turn out to be jerks? I mean, you knew Tyler and Jeffery…."

Boy did Tara ever, though she certainly wished she never had. Calling them Neanderthals probably would have been insulting to actual Neanderthals.

"…..and Pike went all fanatical with the vampire killing after we were expelled from Hemery. Angel, he lost his  **soul**  after we did it, and the less said about Owen and Scott the better. And now Parker just blows me off after one night together."

"You just need to find the right guy," suggested Tara, "or just swear off them altogether."

Buffy didn't know what to make of Tara's obvious joke, seeing that she had rather swiftly set her up with Xander. "I'm guessing by your suggestion to start up the She-Ra Man-Hater's Club that things didn't go so well with Xander."

Tara shook her head furiously. "No, they went great. He's a really nice guy, and I think he's going to be a great friend, but he's just not my type, if you get what I mean."

"Yeah, I do," admitted the Slayer. "I should be totally hot for Xander, but all I've ever gotten from him are 'best friend' vibes, even though he's been into me since he first saw me."

"He won't get upset when I tell him I just want to be friends, will he?"

Buffy shrugged. "He'll pout a bit and carry a torch for you even after we manage to find him a decent girlfriend, but generally, he's going to be just like he is now."

"I-I wish we could find him a girlfriend, though," replied Tara, feeling a bit guilty that she was going to have to dash his hopes.

"Don't ask me who," declared Buffy. "I tried to get Willow to ask him out, but that went nowhere. And then it did, when he was dating Cordelia and she was already with Oz, and it was all sorts of bad."

"Y-yeah, he kind of mentioned that."

"Besides," asked Buffy, "weren't we talking about finding me a guy, or a not-guy, or whatever?"

Now on the spot, Tara started to stutter like mad. "Y-y-yes, I-I-I g-g-guess s-so." Taking a deep breath, she calmed her self down enough to say with an odd bit of hope in her voice, "B-but you already h-have me. R-right?"

Buffy considered the oddly-worded statement for a moment. "Shouldn't  **I**  be asking  **you**  that?"

"I-I never would have come to you in the student lounge if I didn't think you were capable of being m-my gi, er…friend."

Buffy teared up. "Tara, I….thank you." Grateful to be not only forgiven, but accepted, Buffy hugged Tara with all of her might.

"B…..uffy…can't…..breathe….."

"Oh my God!" shouted the Slayer as she let go, thoroughly embarrassed by her own strength.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As will become quickly obvious, I'm playing a bit fast and loose with the events of "Fear, Itself" in this chapter and the next couple ahead. As such, I'm also skipping over some bits that play out exactly as in the episode but veer from the main story.

Buffy's funk over Parker was ultimately short-lived, and it was largely due to Tara. Buffy started joking that the witch had put her under a spell, which went over pretty badly with everyone except Tara. "Stupid Xander and his stupid love spell," was her equally humorous response that only Tara seemed to laugh at.

Of course, when Buffy started helping Tara with her spells the following weekend, the joke suddenly became a lot more private and whispered. To be honest,  **everything**  in Buffy's life was starting to become something private and whispered with Tara. If Buffy had bothered to listen to other people on campus, she'd know that she and Tara were becoming a topic of discussion among the gaping throngs of students and teachers. The only reason it hadn't filtered down to Willow, Oz, and Xander was that Xander was still hoping for a relationship of some sort with the blonde witch (and Willow was even rooting for him this time).

Tara had totally forgotten about letting Xander down.

The issue finally came up in the most awkward way possible the night before Halloween at Xander's house while Willow, Oz, Xander, and Buffy (with Tara's help) were carving pumpkins. Namely, while everyone was having to hastily include Xander in on their plans for Halloween. "Yeah? What?" he asked. "There's a party?

"Didn't we tell you?" asked Willow.

"I-I…..f-forgot," replied Tara, just remembering that she had been drafted for "tell Xander about the party" duty.

"No problems," declared Xander. "So, we're going…..together?" There was a decided hopeful tone to Xander's request that was instantly recognized by everyone in the room.

Tara frowned. She  **really**  didn't want to embarrass Xander like this. "Xander, can we talk? In private?"

Xander, clueless as ever when it came to women, was merely confused as he and Tara stood up. Buffy, however, looked sadly at her friends as they left the room, and Willow was openly worried. (Oz, being Oz, kept his cards close to his vest, showing no emotion.) "She's going to break up with him, isn't she?" asked the redhead.

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Tara likes Xander a lot, but she doesn't  **like**  him. She was going to tell him a while ago, but we've been wrapped up in my Slaying, and her spells, plus class."

"You've been doing spells with Tara?" asked Willow, now confused and just a tiny bit jealous. "You've never really wanted to help me after the one attempt at de-ratting Amy…."

"Tara's interested in tapping into my Slayer powers," answered Buffy. "Apparently, other than a few really dark witches, no one has ever tried to use Slayer energy. She thinks that we might be capable of some seriously powerful white magic eventually."

"That sounds really-" Willow stopped in mid-sentence as Xander walked back down the stairs to his "apartment". "Oh, Xander," she murmured as he sat down next to his equally sad-faced jack o'lantern.

* * *

"You're jealous about me and Tara doing spells aren't you?" asked Buffy as she, Willow, and Oz grabbed food in line at the Rocket Café.

"Well, OK, maybe I am," admitted Willow, caught off guard by the assertion, "but it's just that I've just barely reached this plateau where I have all the basics down, and here you're doing these major experiments with Tara, who's got all this experience with magic. Say, where is Tara?"

"Don't know," said Buffy as she grabbed about five things at once. "She's been all secretive about the whole Halloween costume thing, and this morning she forbade me from seeing her until we meet up back at my house. She's even got Mom all secretive about our costumes, too."

"How is your Mom, anyways?" asked Willow as the three made their way to an empty table.

"She seems fine," said Buffy with a shrug. "I get the feeling it's a bit boring for her without me bringing the Hellmouthy excitement home, though."

"How's she taking the news of Giles and….?"

Buffy held up a hand before Willow could even finish the question. "I'm not even going there. The whole thing is traumatic enough without Mom knowing that Giles is having his mid-life crisis with someone my age."

"Well, to be fair," stated Oz calmly, "Anya does have that thousand-year life as a demon in her past." When faced with two looks of absolute revulsion from Buffy and Willow, he added, "Hey, I'm not trying to say that it's not disturbing or anything, but Anya  **is**  older than Giles."

"Still, it's pretty much full-on 'ick'," said Buffy with a thick veneer of disgust. "I don't even want to know how she celebrates Halloween."

"But you're still going to stop by and see him today, aren't you?" asked Willow.

"Well, she was interested in Xander first," replied the Slayer, "so there's always a pretty real chance that she's going to make Giles burgers or something bad like that."

Willow and Oz could only nod in agreement.

* * *

Later, at Giles' house, Buffy was greeted by a most distressing sight, but not the one she had imagined: Anya. In a bunny suit. "Oh, it's you," declared the ex-demon as she opened the door.

After glaring at Anya for a good ten seconds, Buffy asked, "What's with the bunny suit?"

"Giles says that Halloween is about dressing up as frightening things for fun. And there's nothing scarier in this world than a rabbit."

Anya earned herself another incredulous glare. "I'm sure that your epic struggle against Bugs Bunny is compelling to….someone, but are you going to let me in so I can check in with Giles?"

With a loud sigh, Anya stood aside, " **Fine**. You can come in."

Stepping inside, Buffy was surprised to find some actual Halloween decorations. And Giles, holding a bowl of candy and wearing a huge sombrero. "Oh. My. God."

"It's a sombrero," confirmed the ex-librarian after an awkward pause.

"And it's on your head." After waving off his offer of the contents of the bowl, Buffy said, "Giles, what's going on here? You hate Halloween."

"I've never said any such thing," he replied with a minor hint of offense. "As my Watcher duties took precedence, I simply hadn't taken the time to embrace its inherent charms. Until now. Look!"

Giles reached for one of his decorations, but Buffy stopped him. "No, Giles. This is just sick and wrong. And a possible sign that Anya is sucking out your soul."

"Hey!"

"Buffy," scolded Giles, "did you come here for some reason other than to insult my girlfriend?"

Buffy shuddered again at the mention of Giles and Anya together, and again after she thought that Giles dating her mother would be less disturbing. "I just wanted to let you know that we're all going to a frat party tonight, in case something comes up. And to see if you want to come, I guess." Realizing her entendre, Buffy gasped and hastily added, "To the party! Not in any other ways!"

"I don't think it would be proper if I-"

"I'll go," announced Anya.

Buffy was thoroughly surprised.

"I'm curious about how you humans celebrate Halloween," she replied. "So, I'll stop by once I've seen a few of these 'trick-or-treaters' or whatever."

Facing Giles, Buffy said, "I guess that makes you the last defense in case of evil, then."

"Creatures of the night shy away from Halloween. They find it all much too crass."

"Pretty much," agreed Anya.

Looking at Giles' decorations, Buffy commented, "Hard to believe. But that didn't stop your buddy Ethan and Spike from having fun a couple years ago."

"True," admitted Giles with a nod, "but 'crass' describes both of them rather perfectly, as I'm sure you'll agree." The Slayer smirked in spite of herself. "I promise you, there's little chance of supernatural activity tonight."


	6. Chapter 6

"Mom? Tara?"

Buffy started to climb the stairs towards her room, but was stopped by her mother from progressing any further. "Oh, Buffy, your costume is downstairs." Joyce practically shoved Buffy into the dining room.

"But shouldn't I change in my own bedroom?"

"Of course you can," declared Joyce as she blatantly looked past her daughter and nodded. "You just need your costume, and we left it here by mistake." The entire ensemble, consisting of a white dress, red cape, gold boots, gold bracelets, and a gold tiara that Buffy swore she recognized from somewhere…. "Now, go on up and change."

Buffy found herself practically shoved upstairs and into her room. And when she stumbled in, the Slayer saw  **it**.

The Sword of Protection. Exactly like on  _She-Ra_ , right down to the jewel on its face. And on top of the jewel, an envelope, addressed to her. Buffy dropped her costume, grabbed the envelope, and ripped it open with a furious urgency, and read the note inside:

_Buffy,_

_A good superhero should always have her sword._

_Yours always,_

_Tara_

Like a child on Christmas Day, Buffy put on her costume, sheathed her sword, and rushed downstairs with a huge grin on her face. "Mom? Did you see?" Buffy unsheathed her new sword and lifted it above her head triumphantly.

"Yes, I did, honey," confirmed Joyce as she stood by the entrance to the living room. She couldn't help but look at Buffy sentimentally.

"Someone's getting nostalgic face," noted Buffy a bit sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," said Joyce. "You look just like you did when you were five with your toy sword. It's a miracle we still have anything from back then, what with how you swung that thing around."

"Mom," whined the Slayer as she re-sheathed her weapon. "You're not supposed to tell embarrassing stories when I have friends over!"

"Mrs. Summers already told me them," replied Tara as she presented herself to Buffy. Tara was wearing a sleeveless royal blue top (with a yellow, v-shaped lightning bolt pattern across the chest) with a gold strap/collar, gold bracelets with a seal of some sort molded onto them, a yellow skirt, tights that matched her top, and gold boots with an arrow pattern cut out on the front. Most striking, however, was Tara's hair, not only was she wearing it up, it was dyed a dark shade of auburn not unlike Willow's natural shade.

In a word, Tara looked stunning.

"Tara, you look  **gorgeous**!"

Tara blushed. "Th-thank y-you."

"You're a beautiful young woman," announced Joyce reassuringly. "It's good that you're embracing it."

Tara's blush only intensified.

"Cheeky, too," replied Buffy. "Here I am, a princess, and Tara's outranking me by dressing up as a queen."

Tara smiled devilishly. "I-I just didn't w-want to dye my hair pink to be Glimmer. Besides, Castaspella is cooler."

"Well, come on, Your Highness," joked Buffy, "we've got a party to go to."

* * *

By the time Buffy and Tara had gotten near the Alpha Delta house, night had fallen. As they waited at an intersection, they were greeted with a friendly, "Is this where I join the Great Rebellion?"

It was Xander, wearing a tux.

"Buffy, is that a Kon-Seal on your cape, or are you just happy to see me?"

"Huh? What?!" shouted Buffy as she grabbed her cape, examining it until she found a decent-sized stuffed animal velcroed onto it. "It's Loo-Kee," she announced, nonplussed. "The little klepto's probably trying to steal my sword." In a fit of whimsy, Buffy placed the doll on Tara's head. "Here, babysit Loo-Kee."

Tara looked up at her new companion and just smiled.

"Like the tux, Xander."

"Bond, James Bond," corrected Xander. "Insurance, you know-in case we all turn into our costumes again, I'm going for cool secret agent guy."

Buffy looked at Loo-Kee and said, "Looks like it's up to your to defend our honor and virtue, buddy." Seeing Willow arrive, Buffy pulled out her sword and announced, "A medieval Will approaches." With her was Oz, dressed in normal street clothes.

"Surely a vile agent of the Evil Horde," commented Tara with a smirk.

"I'll have you know that I'm Joan of Arc, so no evil here," replied Willow defensively. "I figured we had a lot in common, seeing as how I was almost burned at the stake. Plus she had that close relationship with God."

"And you are….?" asked Xander of Oz. Oz then placed a "My name is" name tag on his shirt, identifying him as God. "Of course." With everyone gathered, they all started walking towards the frat house. "Wish I'd thought of that before I put my deposit down," groused Xander. "I could've been God."

"Blasphemer." Noticing Tara's friend, Oz pointed at it and said, "Tara, you've got a, uh…."

"Xander f-found Loo-Kee, so he's taking the rest of the night off."

Willow frowned and smacked Xander on his arm. "You  **always**  find Loo-Kee before me!"

The friendly conversation stopped dead in its tracks as they all almost collided with two men in military night gear. Tara's eyes grew wide as she whispered, "Th-those are the guys!"

Buffy frowned and, while brandishing her sword, announced, "Halloween's a dead night for hunting demons, guys. I suggest you go home." Her eyes narrowed as the two exchanged a look and ran off into the night. "Are you sure that those are the army guys, Tara?"

"D-definitely."

"Xander, you seriously need to find out what's up with those guys."

"I'm trying," he said, "but all my contacts bail on the phone calls when I try to ask. This one might be above Soldier Guy's pay grade."

Sighing, Buffy said, "Well, there's nothing we can do right now. We'll just have to see if Giles can….. **Oh, crap**!"

Everyone stopped. "Is something wrong, Buffy?" asked Willow.

"I just remembered-Anya's going to be coming to the party. She wanted to watch the trick-or-treaters first, though."

"Well," said Oz, "we're kind of here, and no Anya, so maybe we'll see her inside."

Buffy shrugged. "I guess so. She's wearing a bunny suit, so she's fairly hard to miss."

"A bunny suit?" asked Xander.

"She said that bunnies are the scariest thing she could think of. I think it goes without saying that she's beyond weird."

Speaking to Tara, Xander said, "I owe you  **so**  much for preventing me from dating her."

"I-it's O-ok. It's not often that I get flashed by a hot, crazy girl in a night club."

"I don't even want to know, do I?" asked Buffy.

Simultaneously, Tara and Xander answered, " **No**."


	7. Chapter 7

The haunted house part of the Alpha Delt party started innocently enough (if lamely, from the perspective of four experienced fighters of evil, plus Tara, who was in the middle of her crash course), but once they spotted the tarantula crawling on Willow's shoulder, things started to get a lot more…..real.

And now, they were lost.

"I thought this led…." muttered Oz to himself as they turned a corner.

Forward was the word until Buffy stopped and kneeled down to the floor, where she touched the carpet. "What is it?" asked Xander.

Buffy took a look at her hand, which was now stained red. "Blood." Sniffing it, she confirmed, "Real blood."

"W-we need to g-get out of here," declared Tara shakily. "The aura in this house is all wrong."

Buffy held a hand up as she unsheathed her sword with the other one. "Shh. Do you hear that? Sounds like squeaking."

"It's these rented shoes," announced Xander. "Patent leather. I asked the guy to break them in for me-"

"No, I hear it, too," said Willow. "Something else Something like…." Willow, and then everyone else looked up slowly, and that when they saw them.  **Bats**. They hovered before attacking, and soon everyone was frantically swatting the creatures away. That is, until Buffy threw her sword at one, impaling it in the wall. The others scattered as Buffy went to examine her handiwork.

"You killed it, She-Ra," replied Tara with a mock seriousness. "It was my brother, and you  **killed it**."

Buffy, Willow, and Oz regarded Tara as if she had grown a second head. Xander, however…. "Hey, I got that joke! Good one, Tara."

Tara blushed again. "Th-thanks."

"Guys," interrupted Oz. "It's made of rubber."

Sure enough, when Buffy pulled her sword out of the wall, an extremely fake bat tumbled to the floor. "What the hell's going on?"

"Look, maybe it's nothing," said Xander with little confidence.

"N-no it's not," replied Tara. Turning to Buffy, she said, "We  **really**  need to get out of here."

Suddenly, a voice boomed through the room: " **REELEEEASE MEEE**!"

"Anyone else agree with Tara?" asked Xander.

Buffy, Willow, and Oz all nodded.

* * *

Anya was damned well furious as she walked up to the Alpha Delt house. Not a single trick-or-treater, and of course Giles, being all stuck up and English, refused her requests for sexual intercourse before leaving for the party. Also, the suit was hot as Hell, and she knew, having personally created a Hell dimension or two in her time.

And now, arriving at the front porch, there was no front door. Sure, it sort of looked like there  **should**  be one, what with the stupid novelty doormat, but nope, no door. "Hey!" shouted the ex-demon as she pounded on the wall. "Hello!" Giving up on where the front door should be, Anya started to walk around the house, finally hearing some banging and yelling noises. Backing up, she took a look at the second floor, and saw a woman struggling to open a window.

"Help me! Somebody please help m-" The woman's voice was cut off as the window literally  **shrunk and disappeared**.

Anya groaned. "Stupid humans!" With no other option, she turned and left, as fast as she could.

* * *

Inside the Alpha Delt House, Buffy, Tara, Willow, Oz, and Xander were totally stuck. The staircase and door were just…..gone. Relief, however, came in one fashion, as the cheesy scary sounds cut off suddenly. "Thank the Lord," declared Buffy.

"You're welcome," answered Oz, who was standing on a chair, having ripped out the wiring leading to the speaker.

"How are we going to get out of here?" asked Willow.

"W-we just n-need to calm d-down and think for a moment," said Tara.

"My turn," announced Xander, "did anyone hear that?"

Tara looked at Xander, and gasped. "Xander, your aura!" Turning to Buffy, Tara said, "Buffy, something's wrong with Xander!"

Buffy looked around, and groaned. "What the Hell, Xander? This is so typical of him to just run off!"

Tara grabbed the Slayer and turned her towards Xander. "H-he's right in front of you!"

Willow and Oz glanced at each other, and then Tara. "No, he's not, Tara," replied Willow. "Xander!"

"I'm  **right here**!" insisted Xander.

Buffy, meanwhile, had found a door and opened it. Inside was a boy close to their age, cowering and rambling. "Chaz," said Oz. "What's happening?"

"It….It's alive…"

"Chaz, what's alive?" asked Buffy as she kneeled down in front of him. "What happened here?"

Frustrated, Xander declared, "He's in shock."

"All right," said Buffy as she started to stand up, "we-"

Tara gasped and shouted, " **Repellere**!" The spell sent everyone except herself and Xander flying, including….a plastic skeleton with a knife in its hand? "B-b-buffy!" shouted the witch as she ran to her friend's side. "A-a-a-are y-you a-alright?"

"What the  **hell**?" raged Buffy. "You almost killed us!"

"B-b-but th-the s-s-skeleton…." whispered Tara fearfully.

"I'm not sure he's doing much," said Oz, picking up the plastic dummy and holding it up for all to see.

"Xa-Xander s-saw it," announced Tara. "T-tell them….." Tara stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't see Xander anymore. She frowned, and said, "W-we can't see or h-hear you, Xander. S-s-stay c-close."

"Did you do something to Xander?" asked Willow insistently.

* * *

Giles, having long since shed his sombrero, sat sadly in his chair, eating candies one by one. Given the number of wrappers strewn everywhere, he had been in this state for quite a while.

"Rupert!" shouted Anya as she burst through the front door. "Something's going wrong at that party, and we-You didn't have a single one of those 'trick-or-treaters', did you?"

Giles hemmed and hawed in his unmistakably British fashion. "Well, uh, not exactly, but that's besides the point. What's going on with the party?"

"So, I went to the house like Buffy said," explained Anya. "I get there, but there's no door where a door should be. Then I see a girl in a window. Then-pffft-she's gone."

"She vanished from the window?"

Grimly, Anya replied, "Window vanished from the house."

Now, Giles' mind was going a mile a minute. "Hmm. Reality and matter distortion….Like a summoning spell's temporal flux."

"What?"

"Nevermind," stated the former Watcher. "Let me get my supplies."

* * *

"I-I-I d-didn't do anything t-to Xander," insisted Tara as she withered under Buffy and Willow's glare. "H-his aura disappeared, and th-then you couldn't s-see him…..a-a-and now I can't, either."

"Well, that's just great," replied Buffy as she gripped the Sword of Protection tightly. "You guys need to try and find Xander, and get out of here, while I try and go upstairs and deal with whatever's-"

"What are you talking about?!" shouted Willow. "You can't just order me around!"

"I'm the Slayer," reaffirmed Buffy. "That says I  **can**."

"It's not your decision-"

"Gotta disagree with you there-"

"Of course you do! Being the Slayer doesn't automatically make you boss."

Attempting to get his girlfriend to calm down, Oz asked, "So what are we talking about?"

"It's a simple incantation," answered Willow. "A guiding spell. For travelers-"

"N-no!" shouted Tara. "I-it'll only b-backfire! Th-there's s-s-something in th-this h-house!"

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" snarled Willow. "You've totally stolen away my best friends since Buffy ran into you! You've even dyed your hair to look like me!"

"I-it's C-c-castaspella's h-hair c-color!" argued Tara, who was starting to cry. "I'm not t-trying to replace you!"

"Get over yourself, Will!" shouted Buffy. "You play all nice and sweet, but as soon as someone shows an interest in something you care about, the claws come out. And God forbid they're actually better than you at something-"

"Maybe I'd trust her more if you stopped acting like Tara was some little puppy that only you can play with!"

Tara's expression paled. "I-i-is th-that what I am to y-you? A p-p-pet?" Not waiting for an answer, Tara simply turned and ran.

"Tara!" shouted Buffy as she began chasing after the witch, giving Willow a nasty look before doing so.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we reach the end of the "Fear, Itself" material. Again, some material that's unchanged from the actual episode has been skipped.

Tara was even more lost than ever. It was bad enough before, but finding out just how poorly Buffy regarded her was too much.  _If this is how she thinks about me now,_  thought Tara,  _what'll happens when she finds out I'm-_

"She'll never love you," sneered a high-pitched voice. "When she finds out what you are, she'll never speak to you again."

"N-n-no!" shouted Tara, now in near hysterics. "B-b-buffy's m-my f-friend!"

"But that's not what you want her to be," replied the sinister voice. "You've already got her doing spells with you, it's not going to be long before you try to make lo-"

" **No**!" screamed Tara as she covered her ears. "S-s-she's j-just a f-f-friend!"

"Liar!"

After the accusation, something started biting and clawing on Tara's head. Batting at the creature, Tara finally dislodged it, and ran, eventually finding a door to enter. Once inside this other room, she collapsed into a ball, and began weeping.

* * *

Finally free of the basement, Buffy panted as she held onto her sword for dear life while walking down a hallway. ( _The same one?_ ) With no idea on where to go, she looked around, and on the floor….

…..the stuffed Loo-Kee doll.

"Tara?" asked Buffy fearfully, as she picked up the toy. "Are you here?" Walking further, she saw another door, and after opening it, there were students inside this room, all cowering in fear.

"The Goat Room."

And not ten feet away was Tara, silently crying.

"Tara!" shouted Buffy, relieved.

"B-buffy?" asked the auburn-haired witch as she craned her neck towards the Slayer's voice.

"You're alright," replied Buffy softly as she helped Tara up. Motioning towards the Loo-Kee doll, she said, "You forgot someone."

"I-I th-thought he was a-attacking me," answered Tara shyly as she leaned close to the Slayer. "H-he said y-you didn't l-love me."

Buffy gulped. Suddenly, the witch was  **very**  close to her, and a part of her liked it….a lot.  _Love?_  "Tara, I….."

Both women were shocked by a loud BANG! as another door opened, revealing Willow, who was scratching and slapping at herself wildly, the Joan of Arc costume long since abandoned. "Get them off me! Get them off!"

"Will," announced a familiar voice, in a soothing manner.

It was Oz. He took his girlfriend's arm, and began to calm her down.

"C-couldn't….get them….off. F-f-fireflies. T-too many! And they flew….in my mouth…And my eyes….and I….couldn't breathe and…."

"It's OK," soothed Oz. "We're OK."

"We're not OK," said Buffy curtly. "We have to get out of here."

"That's all fine and dandy, but none of you can still see me, and even Tara has forgotten that I'm still here and soon my only friend is going to be 'Bleeding Dummy Head', and why are you guys looking at me like that?"

Buffy smiled. "It's because we can see you again, you dummy." Tara and Willow nodded eagerly in agreement.

"Good," answered Xander as his voice wavered. "Oh God, that's good."

"The house separated us," declared Oz. "It wanted to scare us."

"But we….we got away," added Willow.

"No," disagreed Buffy, holding up the Loo-Kee doll that had lured her to the Goat Room, "it brought us here. We got so scared we ended up….here. Why here?" Looking down at the floor, Buffy saw the answer: a huge occult-like symbol on the floor.

"I saw them painting it," said Xander. "They were copying it out of…..That." He pointed at a book on a table in the room. The size and type of binding made it clear that the book would have been at home in Giles' collection.

Willow and Tara went to the book, with Willow picking it up. "It's in Gaelic," said Tara, as she looked over Willow's shoulder.

"Can you translate?" asked Buffy.

" **REEELEEEASE MEEE!** " shouted the same voice from earlier. This time, however, something started banging at the walls and scratching at the doors.

"Guys, I need something to work with," pleaded Buffy as she looked around.

"OK," declared Willow, struggling to translate on the fly. "Um um um, the icon's called the Mark of Gachnar. I think this a summoning spell for something called…."

"Gachnar?" said Xander, finishing one of Willow's sentences for the first time in a good, long while.

"I-it feeds on….fear," added Tara.

"Our fears are manifesting," said Buffy. "We're feeding it. We have to stop."

"Well, if we close our eyes and say it's all a dream it'll  **stab us to death** ," replied Xander fearfully. "These things are real."

Thinking, Buffy murmured, "It's feeding on us….if we can get everyone out…."

"Great plan!" shouted Xander nervously. "Let's go!" Running over to the door Willow came in through, Xander flung open the door, revealing… **a chainsaw wielding maniac**! Or maybe just…."Giles? Look," announced Xander, now relieved, "it's Giles! With a chainsaw."

Anya shoved past, the disgust evident on her face. "What did I ever see in you?"

Tara started to open her mouth, but closed it when Xander gave a look pleading for her not to push the issue.

"The walls closed up behind us," said Giles, explaining his unorthodox choice of weaponry. Going over to Willow and Tara, he picked up the book, and understood everything. "Gachnar, of course. Its presence infects the reality of the house, but it hasn't achieved full manifestation. We can't allow it to come into being."

"But….." argued Buffy, upset that her fun was about to be spoiled, "if it did, I could fight…." Left unsaid was the reality that Buffy wanted to show off to Tara.

"Buffy," replied Giles, this is Gachnar."

Giles showed Buffy the picture of Gachnar, which was horrific enough to end the promises of opening cans of whoop ass. "OK, let's shut it down."

"Whatever we're doing, let's do it fast," said Xander, endearing him no further with Anya.

Thankfully, Giles was on the case. "I have it: 'The summoning spell for Gachnar can be shut down in one of two ways. Destroying the Mark of Gachnar….'"

Buffy tossed Loo-Kee over to Tara and went down on one knee, punching through the floor. She ripped apart the floorboards until the the Mark of Gachnar was bisected, and effectively destroyed. Immediately, the sounds stopped, and Tara clapped happily as Buffy grinned smugly.

Giles, however, had more to say: "'…..is not one of them and will, in fact, immediately bring forth the Fear Demon, itself.'" The former Watcher glanced at the floor, and then gave Buffy a hard glare. Tara, for her part, frowned.

The disapproval was soon warranted, as the room began to rumble. "Look!" shouted Willow, turning towards everyone else. Gachnar appeared in all his grotesque glory, flexing his muscles and letting the power flow through him…..

…..as he settled at a height of only a few inches tall.

"This…." asked Buffy as she hovered over the action figure-sized demon, "is Gachnar?"

Everyone else quickly bunched beside the Slayer, and Xander commented dryly, "Big overture, little show."

The size difference was of no concern to Gachnar, however, as it started ranting like the Biggest of Bads. "I am the Dark Lord of Nightmares," it declared, shaking his fist melodramatically, "the bringer of terror….Tremble before me! Fear me!"

"He's so cute," remarked Willow.

Xander, being Xander, leaned in and started taunting the demon with baby talk. "Who's a little fear demon? C'mon, who's a lit-tle fear demon?"

"Don't taunt the fear demon," replied Giles in a fatherly tone.

"Why? Can he hurt me?"

"No, it's just….tacky."

"But it's funny," replied Tara with an innocent smile, gaining her her first ever scowl from Giles.

"Be that as it may, Buffy," declared Giles, "when it comes to Slaying…."

"Size doesn't matter?" asked Buffy.

"They're all going to abandon you, you know," sneered Gachnar to Buffy.

"Yeah, yeah," was Buffy's curt answer before she chopped Gachnar into two with a half-hearted effort.

* * *

"It's the Great Pumpkin! He's rising up out of the pumpkin patch! Uhhhh….."

**BONK!**

Tara, now happily snuggled up against Buffy on Giles' couch, started laughing giddily. "I love this part."

Buffy nodded as she idly stroked Tara's hair, having long since relocated Loo-Kee to her lap. Her tiara, bracelets, and sword had been long since discarded, and were lying on the floor. "You preach it, Sally. Men suck." After receiving glares from Xander, Giles, and even Oz, Buffy backtracked. "Present company excepted, of course."

"I can't believe people watch this," complained Anya.

"You're making some pretty serious political statements tonight, Anya," deadpanned Oz. "Opposing Bugs Bunny and Snoopy is not for the faint of heart."

"It's a sign you might be a soulless demon," muttered Willow. "Oh, wait…."

Giles glared disapprovingly at Willow before reaching a passage in Gachnar's book that surprised him. "Oh, bloody Hell-the inscription!"

"What's the matter?" asked Buffy, trying her best not to disturb Tara.

"I should have translated-" Giles pointed the book Buffy's way before adding, "The Gaelic inscription under the illustration of Gachnar."

"What's it say?"

"Actual size."

Six pairs of eyes rolled.


	9. Chapter 9

Tara and Buffy were seated on the floor of Tara's dorm room, the only thing between them being some spell-making materials, and Buffy's replica of the Sword of Protection. "So, this isn't going the ruin the sword is it?" asked Buffy. "Because I want to remind you that this is the Best. Gift. Ever."

"No, Comic Book Guy, I am not going to destroy your sword," teased Tara, which earned her one Hell of a raspberry. "We're going to channel some of your power into the sword. It should make it stronger. And hopefully, stain resistant."

Buffy looked down at the weapon and blanched. Despite her best efforts, the sword had become seriously dirty in the few days since Tara had given it to her. Granted, she was using it  **a lot**  on patrol, but still. She loved this sword. "So, like Slayer healing for my sword?"

Considering the statement for a moment, Tara smiled and nodded. "Yes, kind of like that." After spreading some herbs over the sword, she said, "What I need you to do is join hands with me…." Buffy complied immediately. "…..and focus on your inner strength, and let me have some of it."

"So, it's sort of like you're making a Spirit Bomb?" asked Buffy.

"A what?" asked Tara, now totally confused.

"It's this thing on  _Dragon Ball Z_ ," answered Buffy.

"Huh?"

"It's a cartoon," replied Buffy helpfully. "And a comic book….I think."

"Nerd," muttered Tara under her breath, tongue firmly in cheek.

"Meanie," declared the Slayer before sticking her tongue out at the witch.

"Takes one to know one," answered Tara with a knowing look, which was enough to silence Buffy. "Are you ready?"

Buffy took a deep breath before mentally preparing herself. "Uh-huh."

"OK," said Tara. "Now, let go of the power inside you."

Buffy felt as if she was floating on air as she gave herself freely to Tara. She had grown used to feeling unusually connected to the witch when helping her to cast a spell, but this was a whole new level of intimacy and contact for Buffy. Not even during her one night with Angel had Buffy felt so close to another person, and she reveled in the feeling. But as with all things, the contact ended, and Buffy's eyes fluttered open as she began to feel an incredible emptiness in her very soul. "D-did it work?"

Tara looked down at the sword and smiled. "See for yourself."

Buffy's Sword of Protection was suddenly in pristine condition, and it almost felt as if it was even newer than it had been when she had first set eyes upon it. Picking it up, Buffy gasped as she felt the residual effects of the spell. "Oh my God," she replied.

Tara smiled, knowing just how her friend felt. "I-I guess we should test to see how well it worked."

"How?"

"Watch," soothed Tara as she produced a coffee mug, and frowned at its rather revolting contents. What had once been the remnants of a fine cup of joe was now a foul-looking sludge. Tara poured the goo over the sword, and watched as the former coffee slid off the sword. Not even the slightest bit of residue remained on the weapon.

"Holy crap," whispered Buffy, now in awe. "You did it."

Tara shook her head as she took Buffy's free hand into both of hers. "No,  **we**  did it."

Buffy blushed, and set the sword down. "Tara, you can do things that I could never even dream of doing. Trust me when I say that the spell was all you. I was just a…..battery."

"We're here right now because of you," argued Tara. "You waited outside my dorm for me. You brought me out of my shell.  **You**."

Buffy was floored. "Tara, I don't know what to say…."

Tara silenced her friend by placing a finger on her lips. "Buffy, I love you."

Nodding, Buffy took a deep breath and admitted, "I love you, too."

* * *

After their shared declaration, Buffy and Tara were suddenly closer than ever, yet still awkwardly, tantalizingly apart. Neither woman dared to speak (or speak of) those three words: Tara, for fear of driving Buffy away, and Buffy, for fear of facing some hard questions about who she was. This barrier didn't stop them from performing more spells, and it certainly wasn't an impediment when Buffy started staying in Tara's room overnight (though the subject of Buffy sharing Tara's bed, even in a chaste fashion, was something neither woman dared to broach).

Other than some business with cursed beer, Slaying was happily light. That incident, which concluded with Buffy having to save not only Willow, but Parker as well from a fire, ended with Tara slugging Parker and knocking him out cold, purely on principle. (The Slayer had never been prouder.) Of course, Sunnydale being Sunnydale, things could never work out so well for long.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That whooshing sound you hear is us blowing by "Beer Bad" and moving into the stretch run, aka, "Wild at Heart". Only a handful of parts left until this story is in the can.

Buffy and Tara were at the Bronze with Willow and Oz (with Xander being an increasingly depressed fifth wheel), basking in the comforting familiarity of the place when they were interrupted by the unfamiliar and new.

"Hello, all."

Buffy shot up out of her seat as she noticed Giles, with Anya at his side (as usual). "Giles. Trouble?"

"Oh no-don't get up Buffy," replied the former Watcher. "It's nothing like that. I just thought I'd pop by….Anybody for a latte? On me?"

Turning to Willow, who had been extolling the virtues of the Bronze's familiar presence, Buffy said, "So much for your predictable blanky theory, Will."

With five bodies scrunched together already, Giles was forced to grab two nearby chairs for himself and Anya. "It's been ages since I've been out to hear a band….." The comment caused the two couples and Xander to look at each other, to Giles' slight annoyance. "Don't look that way. I'm quite 'with it' when it comes to music-and I have the record albums to prove it."

Buffy smirked. "But it's your cutting edge 8-tracks that keep you ahead of the scene." The comment earned her a slap on the arm from Tara. "Hey!"

"Might want to save the scoffing, gang," declared Oz authoritatively. I've seen the collection, and Giles was an animal in his day."

"I guess," answered Buffy. "If the Stones are still rolling, why can't Giles?"

"Exactly," replied Willow as she glared at Anya, "I think it's brave you're here."

"You people are horrible friends," sneered Anya. And by "you people", she mostly meant Willow.

Giles would have scolded his former charges, but the lights came up, and a band started to play.

"Oh," said Willow, with a touch of bile in her voice. "Yeah….Veruca's playing tonight."

"Yeah," answered Oz, either not noticing or not caring about Willow's slow burn. "Every Wednesday. I told you." Oz tried to smile, but he was soon fully absorbed by Veruca's performance, helped in no small part by her staring right at him rather lustily.

He wasn't the only person drawn in. Most of the men were transfixed (including Giles and  **especially**  Xander), and Buffy and Tara were openly gazing at her with hungry, lustful looks. It wasn't long before the two were holding hands, and edging closer and closer together.

"Buffy? Tara? What do you think of Shy?"

The two shot apart and snapped back to reality when they heard Willow's question, both looking furtively as if they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. (A cookie jar full of sex, apparently.) "What?" asked Buffy, being the first to respond. "Oh! Yes! They're really good, aren't they, Tara?"

Tara nodded in agreement profusely. "Y-yes! The lead singer is very…..interesting." The lust in Tara's voice on that last word was so palpable, it was almost a tangible thing.

Willow was deeply hurt. And that was just the beginning.

* * *

Buffy should have seen the signs of trouble. The next day, Willow was deeply upset over Oz's attraction to Veruca, but she brushed it off, declaring Oz to be fully committed. And the day after that, Professor Walsh spoke about being attacked by two wild dogs, and she didn't react too strongly to the sight of Oz repairing his cage. And, finally, on Saturday, she and Tara watched helplessly as Willow was nearly run over by a car. Thankfully, Riley was there, and pulled Willow to safety. After hearing the entire, sordid tale in their dorm room, Buffy promised her best friend that she'd take care of it. "Can I get you something before we take off? Kleenex? Chocolatey chocolate anything?"

"No," answered Willow curtly.

"I called Xander," interrupted Tara. "He's on his way."

Buffy nodded. "I'll come back as soon as things are taken care of. You just take it easy and wait for Xander, OK?" After a pause, Buffy added, "Riley was right. The main thing is-put the blame where it belongs. Don't hurt yourself."

Willow nodded as Tara handed Buffy her sword.

"OK." Before leaving, Buffy stopped again and asked once more, "You're OK?"

"I'm fine," answered Willow. "Promise."

"If you need anything, Xander will be here in a few minutes."

Willow nodded again, and Buffy and Tara left, posthaste.

* * *

Buffy and Tara arrived at Oz's place, and it was all business. "Where is she?" asked Buffy.

"I don't know," he answered. "I already tried her usual haunts." Pausing awkwardly, he added, "But-I know the areas we're drawn to, and I'm pretty sure I can follow her scent."

"We'll try that, then."

Stopping Buffy as she started to storm out, Oz said, "Look. You should just know that-"

Buffy glared. "Oz. This might be a good time for your trademark stoicism."

Oz nodded at the two very unhappy women before following them out the door.

* * *

But Veruca was too smart. She drew away Oz with some old clothes while she tracked down Willow, who had left their room and found herself cornered by Veruca in the campus chem lab. Buffy, Tara, and Xander caught up to Oz right as he, in full wolf mode and having already killed Veruca, lunged for Willow. Buffy had no choice but to grab Oz to stop him from killing Willow while Tara shot him with Giles' tranquilizer gun. With the immediate threat over, Buffy and Xander wrapped Willow into a protective hug.

It only got worse for Willow, though, as Oz left town the next day.

* * *

"Are you sure, Xander?" asked Buffy as she and Tara stood outside the door to her and Willow's dorm room. Almost an entire week had passed since Oz left, and Xander had shown up each night to be there for Willow. "I mean, you're bound to get fired if you keep ditching work. Tara can stay here if you need to go."

"The job sucks, Buffy," declared Xander with brutal honesty. "Willow needs me. That's the only thing that matters right now."

"OK," answered the Slayer. "But remember that you can't do it all by yourself."

"I owe it to her to help," replied Xander. "I've been the one doing the hurting more than enough, don't you think?"

Buffy nodded in understanding, before hugging him. "I'll see you later, Xander."

Xander smiled weakly and wordlessly as he closed the door behind Buffy and Tara before turning his attention to Willow, who had fallen asleep on her bed. Not wanting to disturb her, Xander found a blanket and covered Willow with it. Then, he pulled a chair next to the bed, sat down, held her hand, and waited.


	11. Chapter 11

Buffy was having a day. Put simply,  **everything**  was falling apart in her hands today. Case in point: her pen, whose ink was all over her hands. "Stupid pen…." Without thinking, Buffy pulled out a sheet of paper and wiped her hands with it. And then she realized just what she had done. "Oh, my notes!"

"Ballpoints are tricky," replied Willow.

While Buffy was dealing with her disaster, class ended. Buffy and Willow got up to leave, and while Buffy looked to the exit and was greeted by Tara, Willow went over to speak to Riley. Noticing the delay, Tara came over to Buffy, but was annoyed by the lack of a Slayer hug. "I don't get a hug today?"

Buffy held up her blue-stained hands. "The Slayer is mightier than the pen."

"OK," answered Tara with a note of faux skepticism, "but as soon as you wash your hands, I'm getting a hug. And if you take too long, I may demand a kiss." That last part was intended as a joke, but Buffy froze up nervously. "What's Willow doing talking to Riley?"

"He didn't call Oz's name during role call today."

Tara frowned, which Buffy acknowledged with a grim nod.

Turning their attention to Willow, they heard her say, "That sounds lame in its vagueness I know, but I assure you, Oz will be back."

"Not to my class he won't," declared Professor Walsh harshly. Willow started to answer, but the professor stopped her with the raising of one finger. "An educated guess: You know the rules. You know I hate exceptions. And yet you feel your exception is exceptional."

"Oh, but…."

Professor Walsh shut Willow down again. "It is. To you. But, since I'm neither a freshman or a narcissist, I have the whole class to consider. If your friend can't respect my schedule, I think it's best he not come back."

Again, Willow started to mount a defense, but this time, her sorrow was too great and she simply turned and left as fast as she could. In an amazing display of self control, Buffy and Tara kept calm as they approached the professor. "You know," announced Buffy as she began to tear loose, "for someone who teaches human behavior? You might try showing some."

Now incredulous, Professor Walsh said, "It's not my job to coddle my students."

"That's right," answered Buffy as she and Tara gave the teacher the harshest of glares. "A human being in pain has nothing to do with your job." Having said her peace, Buffy left arm in arm with Tara, not caring what the professor thought.

* * *

"How can she be so cruel?" asked Willow before blowing her nose.

"Well, Will," asked Xander as he sat down beside his best friend and held her close with his right arm, "have you considered the possibility that she's Snyder's sister?"

Willow started laughing in spite of herself. "Xander," she scolded after regaining her composure.

"Hey, the guy had to have parents," he replied. "There's always the possibility that he's not an only child."

"This conversation is becoming as disturbing as Giles and Anya making out," noted Willow.

"One:  **Ew** , Two: You're not crying anymore, so that means I'm doing something right."

Finding herself unable, and unwilling, to question Xander's typically strange logic, Willow simply hugged her friend and said, "Thank you, Xander. For everything."

"Just doing my job, Will," replied Xander simply.

"Xander!"

Xander blanched upon hearing his mother's voice. "Yeah, Mom?"

"I made up a nice fruit punch for you and Willow. Would you two like some?"

Sighing, Xander declared, "Mom sure knows how to undermine my manly street cred."

"I know all your secrets, Alexander Harris," answered Willow with a sly grin, "so your man street cred means nothing to me."

"You don't know what I did last summer," he mocked as he stood up.

Willow gave him an evil grin. "Now that you just admitted you were up to something while you were away, it's only a matter of time before I find out what it is."

"Not happening, Rosenberg."

Willow laughed will an audible snort as she also stood up. "I still have Resolve Face."

Xander backed away, but held firm. "I'm not going to talk, Willow."

Willow continued backing him up the stairs with her most intense level of Resolve Face. "Oh, yes you will."

"No, I won't," he argued, despite still backing away, "because if I tell you, you'll tell Oz when he gets back, and then the entire world will know, and I refuse to let that happen."

"Xander!" scolded the redhead, even as she inwardly smiled at the new knowledge that whatever his secret was, it embarrassed her friend.

* * *

"So, you're seriously not interested in that party at Lowell House?" asked Tara as she and Buffy crossed through the campus woods.

"Xander's handling the 'cheer up Willow' beat, so nope, no interest," confirmed Buffy. "I'd probably just be sitting in a corner talking to you, anyways, so why not get something done?"

Tara held the back of her hand to Buffy's forehead. "Are you alright?"

"Ha, ha, very funny," deadpanned a now-annoyed Slayer. "Just because I'm happy enough in my life to not need to party, it doesn't mean I'm sick. Besides, Riley might be there, and I  **so**  don't feel like dealing with him."

"You don't like him?"

Buffy shrugged. "Sure, he's kind of hot, but he's like a cardboard cutout. 'Looks like a nice guy, but where's the beef?' I have someone in my life right now who's nice  **and**  has depth." Tara blushed at the compliment. "So, yeah, I'm good without him."

The conversation was interrupted when some CDs flew by. Buffy yanked Tara away, giving them both something of a hiding spot as they saw a pile of stuff, including the aforementioned CDs, clothes, and books. Buffy and Tara watched as a crying girl poured gasoline on the pile and made a poor attempt at lighting a match. Then she turned around and Buffy rolled her eyes as the girl made a menacing move towards her and Tara.

"Oh, yay," sneered the Slayer. "It's Harmony."

"Slayer."

"How do you want to do this, Harm?" asked Buffy. "The hard way, or…..the other hard way?"

Harmony scoffed. "Unless you're going to torture me with your bad insults, or by making out with your girlfriend there, I'm pretty sure you won't be making it hard for me when I kick your ass." Seeing the skeptical look on Buffy's face, Harmony added, "Oh, please, I can smell her all over you. At least you're still bothering to use mouthwash to cover up your being a huge lesbo now."

In a flash, Buffy grabbed Harmony by the neck and shoved her against a tree with one hand and held a stake ready to strike with the other. "Give me a good reason not to add you to the pile of stuff you feel compelled to torch, Harmony," she hissed.

"Spike comes back completely obsessed with a dy-URGH!"

Buffy squeezed harder on Harmony's neck, thoroughly enraged. "Spike's  **back**?!"

"Yes," confirmed the vampire, nodding as best as she could. "Now, can you let me go?"

"Sure," answered Buffy right before staking Harmony. There was no satisfaction, no joy in the act. But there would be when she dealt with Spike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, I'm breezing through "The Initiative", but I do feel a little bad about giving Harmony the heave-ho and leaving out the Harm/Xander fight.


	12. Chapter 12

Ever since first coming to the campus woods with Oz while looking for Veruca, Buffy and Tara had found the area to be surprisingly fertile hunting grounds. Apparently, this wasn't by choice, though, if their current target was to be believed.

"Why don't you just go back where you came from?" he complained. "Things were great before you came. We ruled this campus. You've ruined everything."

Having none of the whining, Buffy, punched the vamp, who tried to return the blow, but the Slayer was able to duck it easily. Grabbing his shoulder, she then spun him around and said, "And they say one person can't make a difference."

Taking advantage of the vampire's dazed state, Tara swooped in and staked him. Even though it was far from her first kill, Tara still beamed as if it was in fact the first.

Buffy, of course, found this to be relentlessly adorable.

The warm feeling Buffy got from watching Tara being Tara faded quickly, and soon she was looking around suspiciously. "What's wrong, Buffy?" asked Tara.

"I could almost swear that there's something else here," she answered, unable to find anything to confirm her suspicions.

"Maybe the army guys have surveillance cameras now?" suggested Tara.

Buffy shook her head. "If feels more like a person-y vibe." Taking another close look around, she said, "Maybe I'm just going crazy."

"Crazy sexy, you mean," joked Tara as she wrapped her arm around Buffy. "So, how's the scabbard working out?"

"Pretty good, actually." Smiling back at the witch, Buffy asked, "Why, is it the secret to me being crazy sexy?"

With a sly grin, Tara said, "I'll never tell." Whispering into Buffy's ear, Tara added seductively, "But you can certainly try to make me."

Buffy gulped as her imagination ran away from her in frightening-and enticing-directions. "I think we need to get you home, young lady, before your curfew."

"Aww, but I wanted to be  **naughty** ," answered Tara, practically purring out the last word.

"Yup, definitely time to get you home," replied Buffy nervously as she led Tara in the direction of the dorms.

Carefully, a figure moved through the forest, tailing the two women, with a calm but steady pace. As all three left the forest, the moonlight shined on the mysterious figure tailing Buffy and her friend.

It was Angel.

* * *

Buffy, Tara, and Willow stood by idly while the dean of students and Professor Gerhardt prattled on endlessly at the groundbreaking for the new UC Sunnydale Cultural Partnership Center, all three trying to avoid potentially embarrassing Xander, who had managed to score a job helping to build the place.

For Willow, this meant sneaking glances at her best friend, a behavior familiar enough to Buffy that she felt the need to comment. "Enjoying the view?"

Willow jumped in surprise. "What?! No!" Off Buffy's disbelieving glare, Willow admitted, "Well, maybe a little bit. But I have Oz." Buffy and Tara shared a pained look. Oz had been gone for the better part of a month, and missed midterms. They wanted to hold out hope, but…. "He's going to come back," argued Willow.

"And how long can you wait?" asked Buffy. "Because the way I see it, there's a really awesome guy that I know you're into who's also single, even though he's been on a date with one girl, and got propositioned by another. You may not get another chance."

"….it's appropriate that the ground-breaking for the U.C. Sunnydale Cultural Partnership Center is taking place so soon before Thanksgiving. Because that's what the Melting Pot is about, contributions from all cultures making our culture stronger."

Distracted by Professor Gerhardt's speech, Willow seethed while she finished. Despite the applause (which Buffy and Tara took part in), Willow declared, "What a load of horse hooey!"

"We have a counter point?" asked Buffy.

"Thanksgiving isn't about blending cultures, it's about one culture wiping out another," replied Willow. "Then they make animated specials about the parts with the maize and the big big belt buckles. They don't show you the next scene where all the bison die and Squanto takes a musket ball in the stomach."

Tara's eyes grew wide with surprise, but Buffy was unfazed. "OK, for some of that you were channeling you mom, right?"

Willow shrugged slightly before admitting, "Well, sort of. That's why she doesn't do Thanksgiving, or Columbus Day. You know, destruction of the indigenous peoples. Which sounds, I know, a little overwrought, but really she's right."

"Yeah, I guess so," admitted Buffy. "I never thought about it that way. With Mom at Aunt Pauline's this year, I'm not getting a Thanksgiving. Maybe it's just as well."

Tara was far more sullen. "Thanksgiving was my Mom's favorite holiday."

Buffy frowned. "Wasn't this around the time of year that she….?"

"Yeah," nodded Tara sadly.

Meanwhile, the groundbreaking ceremony had finished, and the real work began. Xander and two other guys started to dig, and suddenly, Willow's complaints about Thanksgiving were put on hold. Buffy and Tara just looked at each other and smiled knowingly. When Xander looked their way and smiled and waved, Willow waved back enthusiastically, and the two blondes started to giggle.

Then, suddenly, Xander fell into the ground.

After rushing to the sinkhole, the three women were relieved when Xander shouted, "I'm OK! I'm….OK…."


	13. Chapter 13

Buffy and Tara were barely listening as Willow talked about the old Sunnydale Mission that Xander had "found" earlier. Their thoughts were rather firmly focused on thoughts of Thanksgivings past-Buffy with those from before her parents divorced, and Tara with the ones she celebrated with her now-deceased mother. "It's not fair," Tara admitted sadly. "They all get a family holiday, with their families."

"It's a topsy-turvy world," replied Willow, not appreciating Tara's sorrow.

"You know what I should do?" declared Buffy, the wheels turning in her head. "I should have my own Thanksgiving. Invite everyone, cook the whole meal just like Mom always does. It'll be great!"

"C-can I help, too?" asked Tara hopefully.

"Sure," answered the Slayer reassuringly.

Willow was massively disappointed. "Buffy, earlier you agreed with me about Thanksgiving. It's a sham! It's all about death!"

Barely acknowledging Willow's qualms, Buffy said, "It's a sham, but it's a sham with yams. A yam sham."

Tara's eyes glazed over as she murmured, "Mmmmm…..yams…"

"You two aren't going to yam your way out of this one," scolded Willow, not realizing her unintentional pun.

Buffy and Tara snickered. "I know," admitted Buffy, calming herself down. "It's just, I want it. It's like Professor Walsh was saying about sense memory. I smell a roasting turkey and I'm eight again. I liked having that to look forward to." Walking to the window in their shared dorm room, Buffy looked outside sadly and said, "Everything's all different now."

Seeing how depressed Buffy and Tara were, Willow relented. "Well, I suppose there could be slight yams. I mean, we definitely could use a little comfort food."

Tara's mood immediately rebounded, and she hugged Willow appreciatively. "Thank you, Willow."

"I bet Giles doesn't have any plans," declared Buffy. "And Xander usually flees most of his family gatherings…."

"We could not invite Anya!" announced Willow far too cheerfully.

"Giles would never stand for it," replied Buffy regretfully. "Besides, isn't that the point of Thanksgiving aside from the Pilgrims? Everyone has a place to go?"

Willow just moped. "Grumble, grumble…."

* * *

The next morning, Willow went over to the construction site to let Xander know about the impending Thanksgiving dinner, but he was nowhere to be found. So, with no other real sensible option, she went to Xander's "apartment". "Xander," Willow announced as she walked downstairs, "Buffy's having a-Oh my God!"

Xander looked like Hell. And despite his current awful condition, he was still trying to get dressed. "Oh, hey Will."

"Don't, 'Hey, Will,' me, mister!" she commanded. "You're sick!"

"I'm probably just a little wiped from actually, you know, working," replied Xander with a weak amount of sarcasm.

"Xander," admonished Willow, "you need to see a doctor. You look awful."

"You say that to all the guys who aren't dating you," joked Xander as he managed to get one sock on. "Is the floor all swirly?"

Willow was horrified. "No, it isn't."

"Then, yeah. I might have something."

"Once you get your socks and shoes on, we're going to see a doctor," declared Willow. When Xander made a feeble attempt at protesting, she said, "Don't make me use Resolve Face, mister."

"I'm pretty sure that using Resolve Face on the sick qualifies as bullying, Will."

* * *

That night, Buffy and Tara drew the unpleasant task of investigating the death of Professor Gerhardt. Thankfully, since the police aren't dumb enough to stay at a crime scene after dark, the two were able to slip in unobserved. Of course, they cut the power before leaving, so Tara had a flashlight handy. "I'll never get used to this," said Buffy as she started looking around. "One day she's at the Friendship Ceremony, the next day she's on the news."

"I wouldn't want to," replied Tara, which earned a questioning look in return. "Get used to people getting killed, I mean."

Buffy couldn't help but agree. "Hey, look. Something's missing from this case." Helpfully, there was a card describing the (now former) contents of the case. Reading from it, Buffy repeated out loud, "Early 1800s. Chumash knife." Also, helpfully, there was a picture, and the Slayer picked it up. "There's a picture."

"What's it look like?"

Holding it up so Tara could see it, Buffy replied, "Pretty darn scary…."

* * *

The next day, Buffy and Tara were unloading groceries in Giles' kitchen, relating the details of their trip to the grocery store. "…..I mean, it was more like a riot than a Ralph's. I though I was going to have to put some Slayer moves on this one lady who was completely hoarding the pumpkin pie filling."

"Momma always said that it was crazy to wait until the last minute to buy food for Thanksgiving," replied Tara. "I didn't realize before today that she was talking about the shoppers."

Giles was fairly exasperated with this talk of retail-related chaos. "And, at some point you're going to tell me about the murder."

"Oh," said Buffy, mildly thrown for a loop. "Well, the knife was some kind of Indian…."

"Native American," corrected Tara. When Buffy scowled, she simply said, "Better get used to saying it that way before Willow shows up with her new husband."

Giles practically gasped at the statement. "Willow got married?"

"It's a joke," corrected the Slayer. "Tara's convinced that Will and Xand ran off to Vegas since we couldn't get a hold of either of them at all yesterday." With the groceries unloaded, Buffy started rifling through the cabinets. "Anyways, the knife was Chumash."

The ex-Watcher recognized the name. "The Chumash Indians? They were the original inhabitants of this whole area. Interesting. Of course, maybe the murder weapon was simply a convenient choice-"

"Oh, please," declared Anya, butting into the conversation. "That lady was totally stabbed with that knife on purpose. It's what I would have done." She started picking at the food on the counter, only to have her hand slapped by Tara. "Excuse you!" she sneered. "I live here; you don't."

"Tell me again why we're not doing this at your house," remarked Giles as he scowled at both blondes.

"Giles, if you want to get by in American society you have to learn our traditions. You're the patriarch. You have to host the festivities or it's all meaningless." Having come up empty in her search of the cupboards, Buffy added, "Don't you even own a turkey pan?"

"It sounds like they're trying to stiff you with the clean up," commented Anya. "That's almost as vengeful as killing the curator with that knife."

"Were you able to find out how she was killed?" asked Giles.

"Nope," answered Buffy. "The coroner's office was kind of occupied, and without Willow, we couldn't hack into their computer system. If she turns up, you should have her try and do it." Tapping Tara on the shoulder, she said, "I got a few more things to pick up. Try calling Willow and Xander, and I'll check in. And keep your hands off the food." The last part was aimed directly at Anya, who all but gave the Slayer the one-fingered salute as the two women left.

"You can come out now," announced Anya with a loud sigh.

Angel emerged from the darkened hallway next to the kitchen with a typical troubled look on his face.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it seems like I'm trying to power through the "Pangs" re-do in this part, it's because I sort of am. There's no substantial change from the aired plot, but the cast is jumbled around just enough now to make the episode a slog when the next two episodes of TV have more interesting changes in store.

Later, Buffy and Tara were walking by the Espresso Pump, discussing the remaining supplies needed for the Thanksgiving feast. "We might just have to settle for the canned stuff Giles already has," said Tara with a hint of disgust.

"I am  **not**  putting canned whipped cream on my pumpkin pie," declared Buffy resolutely.

"It's too bad Willow and Xander decided to elope," replied Tara. "We could have them get the whipped cream. We already have to settle for frozen peas and store-bought rolls." The witch emphasized the last sentence with her tongue stuck out in a sign of revulsion.

"They did not elope!" argued the Slayer. With a slight sigh, she added, "That ship sailed a long time ago."

"Love finds a way, Buffy," affirmed Tara with a warm and knowing smile. "It just takes guys longer, 'cause, you know….."

" **They suck**?" announced Buffy loudly, which caused heads to turn, including…. "Oh, great, it's Riley. Look, I'm going to check on that priest Giles called about. Can you grab our drinks and meet me there, so I can avoid the puppy?"

Tara laughed in agreement. Riley was quickly becoming known as "the puppy" between the two of them for the look on his face whenever he saw Buffy, which resembled that of a happy puppy. "I think I can handle that." After a wave goodbye, Tara turned into the coffee shop, and ran WHAP! right into someone.

"Ow."

Tara took a couple steps backward to apologize, but was stunned at who she saw. It was a tall, dark, brooding, and attractive (she guessed, at least) man. And despite never having seen him before, Tara knew who it was by description. "Y-y-you're A-a-a-ang-"

Swiftly, Angel covered the blonde's mouth before she could shout his name with Buffy possibly still wishing earshot. "Shh. I'm here to help Buffy. And you are….?"

"I-I-I'm T-tara," stuttered the witch nervously after being released by Buffy's ex. "I-I'm Buffy's…f-friend. She said that you went back home. T-to LA, I mean."

"My friend had a vision," explained the vampire with a soul. "Buffy's in danger."

Tara's eyes grew wide with fear. "B-buffy just went off alone! We've got to go after her!"

Angel grabbed Tara's shoulder, stopping her dead in her tracks. "I can't go with you. If she sees me it'll be worse."

Tara removed Angel's hand roughly and faced him with jealous rage in her eyes. "Buffy still loves you, you know. It's not right that you get to see her and she doesn't even know that you're here."

Angel saw through Tara's verbal assault, and stated simply, "You're in love with Buffy."

Unable to deny the truth any longer, Tara looked at the ground and said, "Y-yes."

After a brief, uncomfortable silence, Angel said, "Look, I'm just here to help for a while. As long as you don't tell Buffy that I was here, things should work out." After another moment of silence, Angel added, "Take good care of her."

And then he was gone.

* * *

While Tara was speaking with Angel, Buffy arrived at the church, and found her lead….dead. And something more. When Tara arrived with their drinks, Buffy was facing off against a Native American man.

"I am vengeance," declared the man. "I am my people's cry. They call for," he pointed at himself, "Hus, for the avenging spirit, to carve out justice."

With a serene ferocity, Buffy replied, "They tell you to start an ear collection?"

Hus started to lunge at Buffy, but was stopped when Tara shouted, "Restringere!"

"You slaughtered my people," announced Hus. "Now you kill their spirit. This is a great day for you."

"No!" argued Tara. "Vengeance-"

Interrupting Tara, Hus faded into a shadow, and then turned into a flock of birds, escaping the binding spell in the process as he fled.

* * *

The next morning, Buffy and Giles were discussing Hus rather vigorously as they and Tara prepared dinner in the now-cramped kitchen. "The thing is, I like my evil like my men:  **evil**." Tara raised an eyebrow at the comment, her mouth slowly curling into a devilish grin. "Hush, you. You know what I mean: straight up, black hat, tie you to the railroad tracks, soon my electro ray will destroy Metropolis  **bad**. Not all mixed up with guilt and the destruction of an indigenous culture."

"So you want us to lie to you?" asked Tara.

Buffy bowed her head in shame as she repeated something she had been told a long time ago. "'The good-guys are stalwart and true. The bad-guys are easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats and we always defeat them and save the day. Nobody ever dies…and everybody lives happily ever after.'"

Tara was legitimately confused. "Huh?"

"You remember Billy Fordham, right?"

Tara nodded. It was hard  **not**  to know who he was, even for an outcast like herself. "Yeah. I heard that he died or something about two years ago." Realizing that Buffy was probably one of the girls who was wild about him, she added, "Sorry if you didn't already know."

"I knew," confirmed the Slayer. "Spike killed him, and turned him, and I had to stake him." Wiping tears from her eyes, Buffy continued. "He sold me out to Spike because he was dying-cancer in his brain. That was when things started getting a lot less simple." Responding to Giles' concerned look, Buffy replied, "So, yeah, I get the message. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"We never asked you to," answered Giles compassionately.

"Now," declared Buffy, turning the conversation completely on its head as she pointed at the potatoes, "We need to boil those and then put them through a ricer."

"I don't think I have a ricer."

"You don't have a ricer?" asked Buffy indignantly. "What do you mean?" How could somebody not have a ricer?"

Ever helpful, Giles asked, "Do you have one at home?"

"I don't know. What's a ricer?"

Tara started laughing while Giles removed his glasses and started rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Buffy, it's the two-handled mashy thing, sort of like the Play-Doh Fun Factory only potato-sized. And not all red-and-yellowy, either."

Giles sighed in frustration. "Buffy, the damage you have done to Tara's vocabulary in two months borders on the criminal."

"Don't look at me," replied Buffy defensively as she started boiling water for the potatoes. "That 'Y' thing at the end of words is all Willow." Responding to the ex-Watcher's annoyed look, she added helpfully, "If it makes you feel better, you can just blame Xander."

* * *

Much later, Buffy, Tara, Giles, and Anya (who came down  **after**  much of the initial dinner prep was finished, which the Slayer was convinced was intentional) were taking a moment to pour through the demon texts for information on Hus, when the door knocked. Giles answered, and was shocked to see Xander, looking as if was on death's door.

"Happy Thanksgiving," greeted Xander weakly, and he stumbled towards the couch, plopping down in a heap.

He was followed by Willow, who was carrying a pile of books and looked tired and frightened. "Hi," she said as she set the books down and went over to Xander's side. "Sorry I haven't been in touch, but Xander's kind of a fussy patient."

"You just play 'Doctor' wrong," replied Xander.

"I'll have you know that the actual doctor said that I was doing a fine job of taking care of you," countered the redhead.

"Taking my temperature with a rectal thermometer is  **not**  playing 'Doctor' right!" declared Xander. "The right way involves a Sexy Nurse outfit and other happy things."

"You have  **syphilis** , Xander," scolded Willow indignantly. "Even if Oz was completely out of the picture, there's no way I'd be playing 'Doctor' the way you want me to."

"Besides," interrupted Tara as she stood up and reached for another book, "The right way to play 'Doctor' is to travel through time with a pretty girl by your side and fight Daleks and Cybermen." To emphasize her point, Tara picked up a spoon and held it up, making a loud "BEEEEEEEEEEEEE" noise before setting it down.

Giles looked at Tara and smiled broadly. "It pleases me to know that at least one of you has an appreciation for the good things in life."

After the room stopped dead for a moment, Buffy asked, "Xander, how did you get syphilis? Besides, you know, from Faith?"

Xander frowned while Willow gave him an ever-so-brief glare. "Actually, Xander has symptoms of a lot of diseases, and after we saw on TV that Professor Gerhardt was killed, I went to the library and checked out everything I could on the Mission. The Chumash all died there, suffering from all these diseases that Xander has."

"Sounds like something Hus would do, alright," replied Buffy.

"Who?" asked Willow and Xander simultaneously.

"A vengeance spirit," announced Anya. "And a pretty good one, I might add, from the looks of it."

"I don't know about you, Will," said Xander, "but I'm all for some Thanksgiving Slaying."

Willow sighed. "Is there another option?"

Buffy, Tara, Giles, and Anya all shook their heads.

"….. **Fine** ," replied Willow bitterly. "What about Xander? Can we cure him without killing this Hus person?"

"That's not how vengeance works," answered Anya. "He doesn't have a power center like I did. He has to die for the effects to be reversed."

Her moral stance now thoroughly subverted, Willow started to pout. However, she and everyone were startled by another knock at the door. This time, Buffy and Giles went to the door, and Buffy opened it, and her expression quickly darkened.

It was Spike, covering his head with a blanket, and looking almost as bad as Xander.

"Help me….."


	15. Chapter 15

Buffy was having none of Spike's pleas for help, and started knocking him all over Giles' courtyard. Eventually, Buffy just let him stew outside, huddling in the shade by the door. "Dammit!" screamed Spike. "I'm safe, I can't bite anyone!"

Buffy and Giles shared a skeptical glance. "What are you saying?" asked the former Watcher.

"I'm saying Spike had a little trip to the vet and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore. I can't bite anything. I can't even hit people."

Not feeling any desire to be sympathetic, Buffy announced sarcastically, "So you haven't murdered anybody lately. Let's be best pals!"

With no other choice, Spike pulled out his trump card. "I got information. About those soldier boys playing Slayer. I got the inside scoop." Buffy and Giles shared a good, long look before Spike said, "Come on….what have you got to be afraid of?"

* * *

In the end, Spike was let in…..and immediately tied to a chair. And that's when he started complaining, and worse, not sharing what he knew. So, Buffy let him be while Tara handled the sweet potatoes. "Mr. Giles," she asked, "do you have brandy?" In response to his curious glance, she clarified, "For the sweet potatoes."

"Oh," answered Giles with a bit of relief in his voice. "Yes. In the cupboard."

"I wouldn't say no to a brandy," whined Spike to no avail.

Buffy noticed that Giles was distracted, and asked him, "What's wrong?"

"It's the victims," he answered. "Apart from Xander, Hus has targeted authority figures-Father Gabriel, the curator of the Cultural Center...who fits this pattern?"

"Just a small brandy," continued Spike, still being ignored by everyone else.

Buffy thought for a moment before hitting on the answer. "The Dean. Dean Guerrero, he's the king of us-and he was at the ceremony…."

Giles agreed. "Likely candidate. We'll need to warn him."

Moving over to Willow, Buffy asked, "Will, is there anything on how to stop a Native American spirit guy? Preferably in the non-murderous way?"

"There's nothing," lamented Willow, "killing or otherwise. I feel like such a hypocrite."

"I know," sympathized the Slayer. "His isn't evil. In fact, he's right to want vengeance. It's just his methods that suck."

"Oh, someone put a stake in me!" shouted Spike.

"You got a lot of volunteers in here," replied Xander weakly.

"I just can't take this mamby-pamby boo-hooing over the bloody Indians!"

Willow corrected forcefully, "The preferred term is-"

"You won! All right?" replied Spike, his annoyance reaching the boiling point. "You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do! That's what Caesar did, he's not going around saying, 'I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it!' The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, you massacred them, end of story!"

"Look, Spike," growled Buffy, "maybe it's hard for you to understand, but we have consciences. We'd like to avoid killing him just this one time if at all possible!"

"No wonder Angel fell in love with you," sneered Spike. "You're just as much of a ponce as he is!"

At the mention of Angel, Giles and Anya shared a knowing glance, which Tara picked up on as she entered the living room. It was clear to her that she wasn't the only person Angel had spoken to.

"Well," declared Buffy, "whatever happens, someone should go warn the Dean."

"I'll go," offered Willow. "I need the air."

"Not alone," replied Buffy.

"I'll go," volunteered Tara.

Buffy went for the keys to her mother's car, only to find that Tara already had them. "Hey!"

Tara hugged Buffy and said in a low voice, "I love you, Sweetie, but there's no way I'm ever letting you drive again."

"I'll go, too," replied Xander.

"You're sure you're up to it?" asked Buffy.

"Oh, leave that one," declared Spike flippantly. "He looks like he's ready to drop any minute, and I think I can eat someone if they're already dead."

"I'm up to it," reaffirmed Xander as he, Willow, and Tara headed out.

"We'll keep looking for a….solution," offered Giles helpfully.

"Buffy will need to kill him," remarked Anya, garnering her a hard look from Willow as she left.

Speaking to Tara, Buffy said, "His house is up past the gym. Hurry back, OK? Dinner's in an hour."

* * *

Willow, Tara, and Xander left the Dean's house defeated and slightly embarrassed, and Tara had a piece of pumpkin pie on a paper plate, wrapped in plastic. "Well, that was a waste of time," declared Xander.

"I think he thought we were crazy," answered Willow.

"Talking about how I had 'funny syphilis' didn't exactly help."

"His wife was nice, though," offered Tara. "She even gave me a piece of pie."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Xander.

"We could stay and stand watch," said Willow, "but I don't know-"

Suddenly, Angel stepped into view. "Tara-"

Willow and Xander jumped back and screamed. "Angel!"

Tara was thoroughly displeased. "What happened to protecting Buffy?"

"So, he's not evil again?" asked Xander.

"I haven't been evil for a long time."

Tara explained further for Willow and Xander's benefit. "Angel's friend had a vision, and he's here to help. But he doesn't want her to know that he's here."

Willow changed the subject slightly. "Hey, is Cordelia really working for you? That's gotta be…."

"Yes, she is, but now's not the time," declared Angel tersely. "All the Chumash weapons are missing from the cultural center."

"So, Buffy was right, and Hus is going after someone in charge," said Tara. "But why not the Dean?"

"He's a warrior," answered Angel. "To a warrior, the leader means the strongest fighter."

Willow, Xander, and Tara all grew pale. "Buffy," they stated in unison.

"He's formed a raiding party," replied Angel.

Tara ran to Joyce's car and gunned the engine. With a smirk, Angel said, "Smart girl Buffy's picked out, there." To Willow and Xander he added, "I'll call her. You get back  **fast**."

The two teens nodded and got in the car as fast as they could.

* * *

Tara, Willow, and Xander arrived and found themselves in the middle of an all-out assault. Xander, despite his weakened state, joined the fray, picking up a heavy pot and smashing it on the head of one of the invading warriors. Tara, however, had a better idea. "Willow, take my hand!" she shouted, holding her hand towards the redhead.

"What?!" asked Willow, not comprehending as she started to run towards the apartment, only to be stopped by Tara.

"Just do it!" commanded the blonde, to which Willow obeyed. With an intense surge of power, the two flung aside one of the warriors as he came for them, almost certainly killing him with the force of his impact against the wall.

Xander was about to compliment the two women on their handiwork when the warrior he smashed the pot into stood up and grabbed him, seemingly unaffected by the earlier assault.

"Xander!" Willow tightened her grip with Tara, and firmly taking control of their connection, flung this second warrior even further and more brutally than the previous one. Appalled, Tara broke the connection with Willow, vowing to never again be used like that.

Never again was almost a very short time indeed, as the first warrior Tara and Willow dealt with stalked towards the two, knife in hand, getting ready to strike…..when Angel arrived and snapped his neck brutally. Had Willow been around to see it, she would have instantly recognized the move as the one Angelus used to kill Jenny Calendar.

In a worried voice, Tara asked Willow, "What's he like when he  **is**  evil?"

Willow started to answer, but was thrown for a loop when Angel picked up the knife from the warrior he killed and, in a seamless motion, threw it at a warrior lunging towards Buffy unseen, effectively saving the Slayer's life without her even knowing it.

The warrior outside, obviously shaking off the effects of his broken neck, grabbed Angel from behind. Not entirely worried, Angel shouted to the two witches, "Help the others!" before dealing with his rather resilient opponent.

Obeying, Willow and Tara rushed inside to help Xander, just in time to see Hus himself turn into a bear, and knock Buffy across the room. Xander, having managed to extract himself from his immediate danger, shouted at the bear, "Hey! Gentle Ben! Over here!" When that failed to work, he grabbed the half-empty bag of potatoes on the kitchen counter, and started lobbing the vegetables at the beast vengefully. "That's for giving me syphilis!"

This was enough to distract the creature, as Buffy stabbed the bear in the heart with his own weapon. The bear turned back into Hus after collapsing to the floor, and in moments, both he and his warriors had disappeared.

* * *

Later, everyone (including a still-restrained Spike) was gathered around Giles' table, clearly having eaten their fill (even though they were still taking the occasional bite here and there). Buffy and especially Willow commiserated in their role in the fight, but Buffy was bothered by another detail, as well. "It wasn't exactly a perfect Thanksgiving."

With his usual flippancy, Xander said, "I don't know. It kinda seemed right to me. A bunch of anticipation, a big fight and now we're all sleepy."

"You did great," replied Tara honestly and helpfully.

"And we all did survive," added Giles.

"Well," agreed Buffy, "I guess that much is true. My first Thanksgiving on my own and we all got through it."

"And maybe we started a  **new**  tradition this year," said Willow hopefully, before reconsidering. "Maybe not. But anyway, we all worked together, that was like old times. Just, with a new friend, and….others." Tara blushed an smiled sheepishly at the compliment while Anya glared and Spike rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," said Xander, "especially with Angel here and everything."

Willow started to scold her best friend, but the mood at the table turned on Buffy's reaction. Willow, Xander, Giles, Anya, and Tara looked to the Slayer guiltily while Spike smirked, savoring every last moment.

Buffy merely glowered with rage.

" **Angel?** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, if you're up on your first-season Angel episodes (there's no excuse not to be, really), you know where I'm going, and yes, this means we're really for real reaching the stretch run on this story.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes, this part and the next few intersect with Angel's "I Will Remember You". However, we're going to be side-stepping most of the Buffy/Angel material on account it being mostly unchanged from the actual episode. So, lots of Tara, Cordelia, and Doyle ahead.

Buffy tossed her overnight bag into the back seat of her mother's car, still furious that Angel had come back to Sunnydale and tried to conceal it from her. "I can't believe him!" she hissed. "What does he think I am? A little kid?"

"To be fair, you are kinda overreacting," replied Willow as she and Xander stood by while Buffy prepared to leave at the crack of dawn on the day after Thanksgiving.

"Only because Angel decided to act like a…. **stalker**!" Buffy started looking around, as if she had misplaced something. After checking the driver's seat, she said, "Now where the Hell are the keys?!"

"You mean these?" Tara held up the aforementioned keys in her hand as she walked up to the car, a backpack slung around one of her shoulders. "I'm driving."

"Tara, this doesn't involve you."

"Yes, it does," she answered, confusing Willow and Xander. "He made me-he made  **us** -lie to you. Besides, there are some things I left at home, and I'd like to pick them up." The last part was a slight lie, but one that Tara was more than willing to make to be there for the woman she loved. Still, she glared at Buffy in an effort to show that she wasn't budging on this.

Buffy had problems denying Tara much of anything, but with her having apparently learned Resolve Face? Buffy had no chance with that sort of firepower. "Alright. You can come."

Willow and Xander smiled at how easily their friend buckled under Tara's pressure. "You're such a softie," declared Willow.

"I don't know, Will," interjected Xander, "Tara's packing some pretty serious heat. I'm not sure that I'd want to cross her without her permission."

Getting the joke, Tara snickered as she got into Joyce's car, but Buffy and Willow were naturally offended. "Xander!" exclaimed Willow as she smacked his arm.

"What?" asked Xander. "Tara has some serious magical mojo, and so do you, Will. If you've got another definition of packing heat, I'd like to hear-or see-it." Waggling his eyes in a typically lascivious fashion, Xander was able to make Willow blush furiously as she crossed her arms around her chest.

"Goodbye, you two," said Buffy as she held back her laughter. Sitting down in the passenger seat, Buffy informed Tara, "Let's go."

* * *

"So," asked Tara some time after she and Buffy had left Sunnydale with hardly a word between them, "what are you planning on telling Angel when we get there?"

"I want him to explain himself," answered the Slayer. "He was the one that broke up with me, and left for LA, but it's OK for him to act like the same creepy stalker he was when he was evil? That's doesn't make any sense to me."

"Love's not exactly rational," replied Tara. "Of course, I'm not much of an expert when it comes to dealing with guys."

Buffy looked away in shame. "Yeah, I guess I kind of ruined your chances of getting too many dates when I shouted for all to hear that you were a freak, didn't I?"

"Oh, I dated enough," said Tara. With a regretful smirk she added, "I was a bit easy there for a while after Momma died, but it wasn't with guys."

Buffy was now  **completely**  confused. "Huh?"

"Buffy, I'm gay."

To say that Buffy was shocked would be a gross understatement. She hadn't even  **considered**  the possibility that Tara was gay. So, Buffy fell silent again as she tried to process this new information, and the reality that she wasn't even mad about it.

Tara, for obvious reasons, was unaware that Buffy wasn't mad at her, but she was certain that the silence meant  **something**. Gritting her teeth, Tara thought,  _Stupid, stupid,_ ** _stupid_** _! Now she really_ ** _does_** _think you're a freak._

"Tara."

"Yes, Buffy?" asked Tara, not daring to look at her fellow blonde as she rejected Tara.

"You being gay…..it changes nothing between us. Becoming your friend is the best thing that's happened to me since I met Willow and Xander. That's how much you mean to me. Besides," added Buffy as she turned towards the back seat and pointed at her ever-present Sword of Protection, "I sort of have a reputation to uphold now."

"And no bottomless abysses to throw it in, either, if you prove yourself unworthy," answered Tara with a smile.

"Again, I say, ' **Huh**?'"

Tara was astonished. "How does Xander get these references but you don't?"

"Because Xander's a nerd?" asked Buffy. "And, apparently, so are you." To emphasize that she was (mostly) joking, Buffy smiled devilishly.

"I'm not the one who carries around a sword from an old kids' show," argued Tara.

"And I'm not the one who  **bought**  the sword from an old kids' show," argued Buffy.

"Well, at least I'm not into yucky boys," countered Tara.

"At least I….." Buffy trailed off, clearly stumped. "Curse your lucky comebacks!"

In a Britishy accent, Tara replied slyly, "Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect."

And yet again, Buffy was confused. "Huh? Was that another reference?"

Tara just laughed.

* * *

Arriving at the office Building where Angel lived and worked, Tara looked at Buffy and said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Buffy nodded. "Yes, I do." Looking to her friend, she said, "You don't have to come in with me, you know."

"And miss a chance to see Queen B in action,  **and**  meet this Cordelia person? Not on your life!"

"Good," answered Buffy as she got out of the car, "I'm better when I have an audience."

* * *

"Look," said Angel, "Buffy will always be a part of me, that's never going to change-but she's human and I'm….not-and that's also never going to change. We said our goodbyes, no need to stir any of that up again."

Sympathetically, Cordelia replied, "You don't want to stir, but….if my ex came to town and was all stalking me in the shadows and then left and never even said hello, I'd be…."

"…..a little upset," finished a familiar voice.

It was Buffy, and she wasn't alone.

"Wouldn't you?"

"Buffy," stated Cordelia, feeling the tension in the room. "Buffy's here. In town. And she brought…."

"I'm Tara," replied the other blonde shyly. "I knew B-buffy before she was the Slayer. And now I go to school with Buffy and Willow." Offering her hand to shake, Tara added, "You must be Cordelia." After shaking hands Tara said to Buffy, "I thought you guys said she was mean. Anya's meaner than her."

"Oh, I'm mean, alright," answered Cordelia. "I just know better than to piss Buffy off." That was naturally directed at Angel. "What brings you to….?"

"I came to see my father, and Tara needs to grab some things she left at her house. So, I thought I'd stop by."

"What a surprise," deadpanned Cordelia.

More warmly, Buffy asked, "How are you, Cordelia?"

"Good," answered the brunette, surprised at the act of kindness from her old rival. "I'm good. You?"

Sharing a compassionate glance with Tara before turning her attention to Angel, Buffy said, "I've been doing really good, but my Thanksgiving could have gone better."

"Uh huh," answered Cordy, who was beginning to feel very much like she was interrupting on the looming  **huge**  fight. "Well this is Doyle, he gets visions of people in trouble…."

The man (who reminded Tara vaguely of Xander) started speaking in an Irish accent. "Nice to make your-"

"…..and this is us leaving the two of you alone now." Through sheer force of will, Cordelia managed to drag both Doyle and Tara out of Angel's office, shutting the door behind them as she left.

"So that's the Slayer," remarked Doyle as he, Cordelia, and Tara sat outside and waited.

"That's our little Buffy," confirmed Cordelia.

"She looked a little…."

"Bulgarian in that outfit?" finished Cordelia, which was enough to make Tara wince with the memories of Buffy, from before.

"I was going to say hurt," replied Doyle. Nodding towards Tara, he added, "And it looks like she's not the only one."

Tara bowed her head down with something between embarrassment and shame. "I-i's n-n-nothing."

"Oh, please," retorted Cordelia. "Something's bothering you."

Tara shook her head in disbelief. "You're just like she was, before she got expelled. No filter. No compassion."

"Excuse me!" shouted Cordelia. "I got compassion coming out of my ass! And I'm  **nothing**  like Little Miss Blows Stuff Up! And how would you know, anyways?"

"Like I said, I knew Buffy before she came to Sunnydale," answered Tara. "And, as Buffy put it, she was you….and I was Willow. Except I didn't have a Xander."

"Xander?" asked Doyle. "Wasn't that the guy you dated, Cordy?"

Cordelia fumed, and Tara realized that she now owed both Xander and Willow  **big time**  for telling her their versions of the "Cordelia story" as she answered. "Yes, she did."

All three turned towards the door to Angel's office when they heard the unmistakable sounds of fighting. "D'you hear that?"

"Oh yeah, the Buffy and Angel show," answered Cordelia sarcastically, "First they talk out their differences, then they punch them out."

Tara was unconvinced. "I'm a witch. I can help them."

"You obviously know Willow and Xander," declared Cordelia. "They should have told you that it's a bad idea to get involved with Buffy and Angel's issues. So, let's all go and have a cappuccino, and maybe watch the director's cut of  _Titanic_ , because it's going to be awhile."

Tara looked at the office door, and then at Cordelia…..and caved. "O-ok." Doyle also glanced back at the door as they left, but he also didn't protest.


	17. Chapter 17

At the coffee shop, Tara sat by silently as Cordy started to give the Buffy/Angel lowdown to Doyle, who was rather disappointed with the shop's definition of a regular coffee.  _Clearly,_  mused the blonde,  _Doyle hasn't been in Los Angeles very long._

With a shrug, Cordelia said, "At first he was just hanging around in the shadows, spying on us-boy, a lot's changed there, huh?-I was seeing someone at the time so I guess he sort of fixated on her."

Tara smiled. "You were making out with Xander in a broom closet because you were ashamed of him, and Xander was ashamed of Willow finding out about you two."

Cordelia's expression darkened considerably. "Anyways, Buffy and Angel got together on her seventeenth birthday. Which kicked in his 'knowing a moment of true happiness' curse and then it really got ugly."

"He went bad, tried to kill her," continued Doyle.

"He tried to kill everybody," replied Cordelia. "You weren't really goin' out much after dark in those days….then she ran him through with a sword, sent him to hell. He popped out four months later which was like a hundred years of torment in demon time or something….his hair's never really been the same."

"And then?" asked Doyle.

"Then they were on again off again-you sort of need a score card at this point-but finally they broke up for real last spring. That's when he took off for L.A. The story thus far."

"Great," answered Doyle. "So what happens now?"

* * *

Walking back to Angel's office with Doyle and Cordelia, Tara decided to just wait in the car instead of go into the office with them. The whole situation was just too uncomfortable with Cordelia being exactly like Buffy used to be. So, of course she was completely startled when Cordy came up to the car and got her attention.

"Hey," shouted Cordelia, "Tara! There was a thing, with a demon, but Angel took care of it. Do you want to come with me to find Buffy to let her know?"

"A-alright," replied Tara nervously. "I-I can drive th-there. With Mrs. Summers' car. That I'm sitting in."

"Whatever," said Cordelia, as she got in the passenger's seat. "Angel said she was probably by the Lone Bar, in Santa Monica."

"Th-that's not t-too f-far," answered the blonde.

"Look," declared Cordelia as Tara started the engine and pulled out of the parking spot, "I know I have this terrible reputation with Buffy and the rest of her friends, but I'm not going to go all 'Queen C' on you."

"Th-thank you," answered Tara. "I'm sorry if I upset you by bringing up Xander."

"Whatever," dismissed Cordelia. "He can enjoy his loser life alone, watching Willow and Oz continue their perfect relationship."

Tara shook her head. "O-oz left Sunnydale. He's been gone for almost a month now."

"Shut  **up**!" declared a now-shocked former cheerleader. "Why would Oz leave town? He's been all but planning their wedding for ages!"

"He cheated on Willow with this girl, Veruca," explained Tara. "She was a werewolf, like him, and on the last full moon they…."

"Had were-sex?" replied a now-disgusted Cordelia. "That's a visual I never needed."

Tara had to agree. "I-I'll spare you the gory details, then. Oz went wolf and killed Veruca before almost killing Willow, then left the next day. If not for Xander…." She shook her head at the dire possibilities for Willow.

"Of course," answered Cordelia with gritted teeth. "If it's not Buffy, it's Willow with him. Buffy this, Willow that. Ugh!"

"Xander's a good guy," affirmed Tara. "You should really think about-"

"Forgiving him? Being his friend?" Tara had hit a nerve. "Look, I never intended to interfere with the lifelong romance of Willow and Xander, but you can't just move past a broken heart and being impaled by a piece of rebar."

It was worth a shot, but Tara figured that this would be the result. "S-sorry. It's just that-Oh, there's Buffy!" Tara smiled instinctively, but the Slayer saw them approaching, and didn't look too pleased.

"She looks  **pissed** ," announced Cordelia. "No wonder Angel sent me to find her."  _Well, besides the whole 'human now' thing,_  she added internally.

Luckily, Tara was able to park alongside the sidewalk where Buffy stood. She smiled at Buffy when she stepped out, and it was enough to thaw the Slayer's frosty mood, leading to a warm embrace that took Cordelia aback. "Is there something the matter, Cor?"

Nervously, Cordelia answered, "No, Buffy, not at all."  _Except you apparently being a huge_ ** _lesbo_** _now,_  she thought. "We were just looking for you to let you know that Angel took care of the whatsit demon you guys were after."

The tension in Buffy's body released as she was no longer "on duty", as it were. "OK." After a brief pause, she added, "Did you need a ride back….?"

"No, I'm good," answered Cordelia tentatively, preparing to leave.

"It  **was**  good seeing you again, Cordelia," replied Buffy earnestly. "Is there anyone you want me to….?"

"No, that's alright," declared the former cheerleader. "But thanks for the offer." And without another word, Cordelia left.

Turning her attention to Tara, Buffy said, "We're near the park. Do you want to take a walk before we do the family thing?"

"S-sure."

* * *

"…..I wasn't exactly kind, but I think we got the hint that we're pretty much through," finished Buffy as she walked hand-in-hand with Tara. "So, how was your encounter with Queen C?"

Tara chuckled. "It was alright, mostly. I think I embarrassed her in front of her boyfriend when I brought up some of the stuff Willow and Xander told me."

"Eh, she'll live," joked Buffy.

Stopping, Tara faced Buffy and asked her, "C-can I tell you s-something?"

"Of course you can, Tare," replied the Slayer, somewhat incredulous that the witch would even have to ask such a question.

"G-good," said Tara, who was becoming visibly nervous. "Y-y-you kn-ow h-how I t-told you this morning th-that I was g-gay?"

"Yes…." Buffy didn't understand what Tara was getting at, but with the increasing knot in her stomach, she knew it might be something big.

"W-w-well, th-that's n-not the only th-ing," continued Tara.

Buffy put her hand on Tara's should supportively. "It's alright, Tara. Everything's going to be OK."

Tara took another deep breath and nodded. "B-buffy, it's just that, when I-I said that I l-loved y-you a f-few w-w-weeks ago, I-I m-m-meant to say that I…."

Tara's voice trailed off as she noticed Buffy was no longer paying attention to her, and looking at something in front of her. Turning around, Tara's heart sank as she saw Angel stepping into the open daylight, standing in complete contrast to the bright California surroundings. And he was most certainly  **not**  burning to a crisp.

Her eyes locked with Angel's, Buffy walked past Tara with nary a word and approached her first love as he swept her in his arms and started kissing her openly and passionately, as if there was no tomorrow.

Heartbroken, Tara looked away as she started sobbing uncontrollably. Suddenly, one step forward turned into two, and those footsteps turned a fast walk, and within a minute, Tara was running away, as fast as she could in the direction that Cordelia had gone minutes earlier. It was a thoughtless action, but in this vast city, it was now the only thing she had left.


	18. Chapter 18

Cordelia was fuming as she laid Tara down on a not-too-comfortable couch in the Angel Investigations office. The blonde had managed to catch up to the ex-cheerleader, and Cordy had been able to put the pieces together instantly, and had walked Tara to the office. At least she had the courtesy to wait until then to pass out from exhaustion. "It's what I was trying to tell you, Doyle-Buffy and Angel suffer and fight-that's business as usual. They get groiny with one another, the world as we know it falls apart."

"And what does this have to do with Tara?"

"She's in love with Buffy, you bozo!" scolded Cordelia. "And before she came to me, crying her eyes out, I was sure that Buffy felt the same way, too."

Disbelieving Cordelia's assertion that Buffy and Angel were involved in any NC-17 acts, Doyle said, "You can't be sure they're-"

"Oh, right," she sneered. "They've got the forbidden love of all time, they've been apart for months, he's suddenly human, and now she cashes in her Lesbian Until Angel card-I'm sure they're just down there having tea and crackers. Now, come on, we need to bring back Mrs. Summers' car."

"Do you think it's right to leave her alone like this?" asked Doyle.

"It's not going to take us very long to get the stupid car and come back here," argued Cordelia. "So shut up, and let's go."

* * *

That evening, Cordelia and Doyle again took Tara with them, this time to a bar. Cordy was upset and nursing a Coke. Doyle was feeling a bit better, and had a margarita. But Tara, despite being the same age as Cordelia (and therefore underage), was on her  **third**  shot of Everclear, and was completely trashed.

"Things were going so well," moaned Cordelia. "We were starting to build a clientele, establish a reputation. Evil was practically coming out of our ears. Then he has to go and get all human on us."

"You might try and be happy for him," offered Doyle diplomatically.

" **FUCK HIM!** " shouted Tara in a slurred and uninhibited voice. "Piece of shit stole my girlfriend!" The waitress appeared with a mind-boggling fourth shot, but upon seeing the blonde in her current state, she started to back away….that is, until Tara stared right into the eyes of the generically pretty brunette hostess, which caused her to robotically place the drink on the table, and walk off as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Tara's companions watched in horror as she downed the shot as if it was water. As nicely as possible, Doyle warned, "Tara, you need to be careful. That stuff can kill you."

" **Good** ," declared the witch bitterly.

"Look, Tara," soothed Cordelia, "I get it: Buffy and Angel ripped your heart out today. Last week was my one-year anniversary of having the exact same thing happen to me, and with the added bonus of being impaled by a piece of rebar. But it's seriously not worth killing yourself over."

"Buffy's all I have!" announced Tara sadly as she started crying again.

Cordelia frowned at Doyle as she wrapped the now-sobbing blonde up in her arms. "I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly qualified to be a grief counselor. I'm good for exactly two things: international super stardom or assisting a vampire-with-a-soul rid the world of evil. Makes for a short but colorful resume."

"Neither am I," answered Doyle, "but at least I can say goodbye to the bone crushing, head wrenching, mind numbing visions….OWWW!"

As if being punished by the Powers That Be for thinking otherwise, Doyle was assaulted with a vision of the demon Angel killed rising, removing the dagger in its chest, and healing itself…..while becoming bigger.  **Much**  bigger.

Now trying to balance a drunken, crying witch with one hand, and a teetering, vision-stricken co-worker with the other, Cordelia asked, "Doyle….take it easy, what do you see….?"

After seeing the Mohra climbing a ladder towards the surface, Doyle collapsed against the table before slowly lifting his head. "We got trouble."

* * *

With Angel and Doyle off on Mohra-hunting duty (and noticeably without Buffy), that left Cordelia on "making sure Tara doesn't end up like John Bonham" duty. And with her employment status now in doubt, Cordy was taking the time to tag just about everything salable with a pink post-it note.

"Angel?" asked an unmistakable voice, which was soon embodied by a rested Buffy. "Cordelia," she announced in a disappointed voice as she rounded the corner into the main office area, not even taking notice of Tara lying passed out on a nearby couch.

"Is this antique?" asked Cordelia, holding up a double-headed axe.

"Byzantine," declared the Slayer automatically. "Where's Angel?"

Cordelia shrugged. "Shouldn't you be a little concerned about, I don't know, your  **girlfriend**?"

"What the Hell are you talking about?" asked Buffy incredulously. Cordelia pointed at Tara. "Tara's not my….." And then the gravity of the last couple of months hit her like a ton of bricks. "Oh God."

"That's right," replied Cordelia in her trademark "I'm right and you're not" tone of voice. "I could go on about how tragic it is that I'm out of a job because you and Angel have your perfect happiness, but Tara is on full-on suicide watch now, and from what I gather, it's not just because you turned her down."

"I don't have to justify my feelings to you," answered Buffy defensively. "Besides, Tara knew how I felt about Angel before she came with me."

"Yeah, 'felt'. Past tense. I bet she came along to see you shut Angel down once and for all. Instead, you two are more together than ever before, assuming that Mr. Macho doesn't get himself killed fighting that thing-" Cordelia stopped in mid-sentence after realizing that she had said too much.

"What 'thing'?" asked Buffy. Pleading, she added, "Cordelia. Please."

After a moment of consideration, Cordelia said, "That demon Angel thought he killed? Well he didn't."

Without a word, Buffy turned and left.

After a moment, Cordelia announced with a sigh, "Tara, there are a lot better women out there to fall for than her."

* * *

The next morning, Tara woke up to the mother of all hangovers. And boy did she ever feel stupid for it.

"Serves you right," admonished Cordelia as she handed Tara a glass of water and some aspirin. "I'd offer you some food, but Angel's already eaten it all."

"Th-thank you," whispered Tara as she swallowed her aspirin and chugged the glass of water. "I hope I didn't do anything dumb last night."

"You mean besides the four shots of Everclear?" asked Cordelia, to which Tara groaned and nodded. "Well, you said a ton of mean things about Angel and you threw up in Buffy's overnight bag."

Tara groaned even louder.

"Also, I think you called up Xander at like three in the morning while I was in the bathroom."

Tara's face was now about as red as her hair had been on Halloween. "Oh, Goddess. Please tell me that's it."

Sitting down beside the witch, Cordelia declared, "I hope you've learned your lesson from this."

"Winners don't do drugs?" asked Tara hopefully.

Now it was Cordelia's turn to groan.

* * *

Downstairs, Angel and Buffy were having a far less cordial conversation. In fact, Buffy was actively pleading with her lover.

"A minute? No, that's not enough time-"

"We don't have a choice," replied Angel rationally. "It's done."

"How am I supposed to go on with my life knowing what we had, what we could've…."

"You won't," answered Angel. "No one will know but me. You'll go back home like nothing happened with Tara, and you'll have her. She can make you happy."

"But…."

* * *

"I can't just pretend I don't love her," rationalized Tara. "But it's not my place to t-tell her how to live her life."

"Seriously?" answered Cordelia incredulously. "You need to fight for Buffy if you really love her, Tara. As soon as you let go, it's too late."

"N-no matter h-how much it h-hurts, I'm not going to interfere," affirmed Tara. "I-I'll find someone else, and that'll be enough."

* * *

" **I felt your heart beat** ," pleaded Buffy tearfully as she embraced Angel.

"Buffy….." Angel was crying, too, but he knew that this was the only way.

Realizing that their time together was nearing the end, Buffy moaned, "Oh, God. There's not enough time." Angel simply tried to soothe the Slayer as she repeated breathlessly, "I'll never forget….I'll never forget….I'll never forget….I'll never forget….."

* * *

"I'm not going to forget her, Cordelia," declared Tara firmly. "I'm just…..giving her away, and hoping she comes back to me…."

* * *

"D'you hear that?"

"Oh yeah, the Buffy and Angel show," answered Cordelia sarcastically, "First they talk out their differences, then they punch them out."

Tara was unconvinced. "I'm a witch. I can help them."

"You obviously know Willow and Xander," declared Cordelia. "They should have told you that it's a bad idea to get involved with Buffy and Angel's issues. So, let's all go and have a cappuccino, and maybe watch the director's cut of  _Titanic_ , because it's going to be awhile."

Tara looked at the office door, and smiled as Buffy emerged. However, the smiled faded instantly as she saw that the Slayer was on the verge of tears.

"Let's go, Tara," commanded Buffy tersely before saying, "It was nice seeing you again, Cordelia," as the two women left, leaving Doyle and Cordelia to share a curious look with one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus endeth the Angel portion of our story (but not the LA part).


	19. Chapter 19

Other than driving directions to her former home, Buffy had said nary a word to Tara since they left Angel's office. No longer able to let things go, Tara asked, "D-do you want to talk about it?"

"No," answered Buffy curtly.

Tara nodded, deciding to let Buffy be while they drove in silence.

* * *

Buffy was in a better mood when she and Tara arrived at her father's house. Tara could certainly relate: as much as she feared her living relatives, enough good memories were had at home for her to occasionally miss it. As they pulled up, Buffy noticed a second car in the driveway. "I guess Dad already has company."

"Maybe he has people over watching football?" asked Tara hopefully.

"I guess," replied Buffy skeptically as they got out of Mrs. Summers' car. Buffy was unusually fidgety as she pushed the doorbell, which was only emphasized when it took a good minute for someone to answer the door.

Buffy's expression immediately soured when the door opened, revealing not her father, but a pretty twentysomething-ish brunette answered, wearing not much, and looking as if she had just gotten out of bed. "Hello?" she asked.

"Um….hi," answered Buffy. "I'm Buffy. I was stopping by to visit my Dad." After receiving a questioning look, Buffy added. "You know, Hank Summers?"

"Oh!" she said, obviously taken off guard by the Slayer. "Can you wait a minute?"

Before Buffy could even respond, the woman closed the door. Buffy frowned, and Tara answered with her best sympathetic expression and a brief supportive squeeze of her friend's hand. The small gesture was enough, as Buffy immediately calmed down.

Finally, Buffy's father answered the door, and while he was more dressed the woman, he still wasn't exactly presentable. "Buffy! I wasn't expecting you. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, Dad," answered the Slayer. "My friend Tara and I just had some things to do in town, and Mom was out of town for Thanksgiving, so I figured that I'd drop in and say, 'hi'."

Tara smiled nervously.

"It's a bad time for an unannounced visit, honey."

Buffy frowned. "Dad….."

Buffy's father pulled out his wallet, and produced a fairly thick wad of cash. "Listen, Buffy, why don't you and your friend have a good time today, and I'll call you later and we can set up something for Christmas." Buffy nodded stiffly as she accepted the money. "I love you, Buffy."

Buffy accepted a kiss on the forehead without any emotion, and answered robotically, "I love you, too." She stood at the entryway placidly as the door closed, turned around, walked over to her mother's car…..and promptly broke down in tears.

Tara rushed over and hugged Buffy with all her strength. "It's OK, Buffy."

"No, it's not," countered Buffy bitterly between sobs. "First Angel, and now my Dad…."

"Walk away, Buffy," advised Tara. "You have so many people who care about you. Why would you spend time on people who don't?"

"But-"

"No 'buts', Buffy," admonished Tara. "If Angel and your father love you-I mean  **really**  love you-they'll come back to you if you let them go."

Buffy looked at the front door to her former home for a moment before asking, "Are you sure?"

Tara smiled knowingly. "I came back, didn't I?"

Blushing, Buffy admitted, "Yes, you did."

"Now," declared Tara, "I need you to forget what I just said, because we need to go to my house."

* * *

Buffy had known even back in high school that Tara was from a slightly lower tax bracket than most of the Hemery student body (it was, of course, one of the many reasons why Tara became a target of Queen B's wrath), but the reality was far starker than she had imagined. Tara's childhood home was located in an old, dilapidated corner of Los Angeles, but her house was almost astonishingly run down compared to the others. The lawn was a patchwork of weeds and dead grass, the small, one-story house was in open disrepair (to the point of resembling a vampire nest), and there was a rust-encrusted camper in the front yard that Buffy believed to be inoperable. Suffice to say, Buffy didn't need to be able to read auras like Tara to know that this home had been the site of a great deal of pain and suffering.

Tara grimaced. "It wasn't always like this. When I was little, Daddy still treated Momma right, and we were so happy….."

"And then he found out about the magic."

Tara nodded. "Nanna moved in, and she and Momma started to teach me how to use magic. And then Daddy found out that we had the gift, and he changed. He became cruel, and started hitting Momma. I didn't know it at the time-I was only 6, after all-but Nanna moved in because she was dying. And without Nanna to protect us, Daddy practically made us prisoners. We had to hide our spellcasting, and that's when he started to forbid me from doing anything magical. I couldn't even watch cartoons if he was at home. And then Momma got cancer, too, and Daddy…..he….."

Tara started weeping, and Buffy's blood boiled as she hugged the witch. "He'll never hurt you again, Tara, I promise." Going back to the car, Buffy grabbed her sheathed sword, and made as if she was preparing to go on patrol. "Is your family at home now?"

"They're gone," confirmed Tara, "but we should hurry." Pulling a key out of her pocket, Tara unlocked the front door, which both she and Buffy entered.

Inside, the house looked more like an actual home….but corrupted somehow. Again, Buffy was reminded of a vampire's dwelling, and how they always looked like a perversion of a normal human's home. It put Buffy on edge, and she struggled to maintain a good poker face for her friend.

Tara, however, wasted no time, and went immediately towards the living room, sitting down at the couch. She swiftly removed the runner on the coffee table in front of her and folded it neatly before opening the top of the table, revealing a number of personal effects. "Buffy, come here!" announced the witch as she produced what the Slayer instantly recognized as a baby book. Tara opened the book, revealing a photo of a smiling infant.

"Is that…..?"

"Yes," answered Tara as she made room for Buffy on the couch. Closing the book and setting it on top of the runner, Tara reached for a scrapbook, and opened that, too. Tara removed a photo from the first page, which had two women and a smiling, brown-haired little girl. Buffy smiled as she recognized the girl as Tara. "Yeah, I dye my hair," admitted Tara sheepishly.

"I can't judge," admitted Buffy, "I have color by Clairol, too." Pointing at the two women, an older, distinguished woman with silver hair and a gentle-looking, yet sad-faced brunette, she asked, "Is that your mother and grandmother?"

Tara nodded. "Can you take out the pictures that just have me and them in? I have to grab some things from my and my parents' rooms."

Buffy nodded back as Tara stood and left the room. First, she went into a tiny, barren room, and sighed before getting on her knees and crawling underneath the bed. There, she removed a pair of floorboards, revealing a small nook with a few things. Tara grabbed them all, and then replaced the floorboards before getting up. Standing up, she placed the items on the nightstand, and regarded the comforter on the bed. Clearly old and handmade, Tara smiled briefly before removing it and folding it up. She placed the items from under the bed on top of the comforter, and moved onto the next bedroom.

Tara was far less confident as she entered her parents' bedroom. It was just as it had been when she ran away to Sunnydale, which meant that her mother's things were still unmoved since her death. Setting the things in her arms down, Tara went to the bureau and picked up an ornate jewelry box. Opening it, she quickly checked to verify the contents, and then looked on the bureau counter, placing a modest diamond ring inside the jewelry box and putting a beautiful silver necklace with a heart-shaped charm that had a diamond at its center in her pocket. Next, Tara went into the closet and kneeled down, lifting a floor panel and removing two old-looking books. After hastily replacing the panel, Tara gathered everything and headed back to the living room.

Once there, Tara placed everything on the kitchen table and asked Buffy, "Do you have all of them?"

"Almost finished."

"OK." Going into the kitchen, Tara rifled around swiftly before finding a thick, tattered cookbook with additional slips of paper sticking out of the sides. Grabbing it, she left the kitchen, picked up everything, and set it down on the floor near Buffy before sitting down beside her. Without saying a word, Tara rifled through the coffee table, but found nothing of value.

"Done!" announced Buffy as she set down the final photo album and handed a three-inch stack of pictures over to Tara. "Do you have everything?"

"I-I th-think so," answered Tara as she looked around for the last time. Taking the necklace out of her pocket, Tara announced, "Before we g-go, I h-have something for you."

Buffy saw the necklace and gasped. "Tara, it's beautiful!" However, she stopped the other blonde from handing it over. "I can't accept this."

"Momma said that when I was old enough, and I met someone…..a f-f-f-fia….t-to m-m-m-ma…I mean….." Tara took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself down. "Sh-she said that when I met s-someone….. **special** ….I should give this to th-them. A-and th-that's you."

Buffy smiled and started crying. Other than Angel, no one had ever given her such a gift. "I….Tara….yes. Yes, I will. Accept it."

Tara smiled back and unclasped the necklace and leaned in to put it on. After fumbling around for a moment, she managed to re-hook the necklace. However, both women were suddenly very conscious of how close they-and their lips-were to one another, and they froze, looking at each other with a mix of fear, love, confusion, and lust. Acting on instinct, Buffy and Tara closed their eyes and began closing the distance between them, their mouths open and ready to…..

"Tara Maclay, what are you doing in my house?!"

Buffy and Tara shot apart, shocked by the voice shouting at them. Standing not ten feet away was an older man, flanked by a man and a woman roughly their age. Even if Buffy hadn't had the benefit of looking through Tara's family scrapbooks, she would not have been surprised by her response to the man.

"Daddy?"


	20. Chapter 20

Tara and Buffy both stood to face Mr. Maclay, and while Tara's confidence was visibly shaken, Buffy was defiant. "I strongly suggest you let us go," declared Buffy, fury evident in her voice.

"This is none of your business, Miss…."

"Buffy," answered the Slayer. "And it  **is**  my business."

"I remember you," declared the younger man. "You used to bully Tara when she was in high school."

Mr. Maclay was appalled. "Is Donald right, Tara?"

"Y-yes," admitted Tara. "But-"

"You run away from your family, and show up months later with someone who hates you?" asked the redheaded woman to Mr. Maclay's left. "Is this how you repay your family?"

"I love Buffy," asserted Tara bravely. "Sh-she's my f-fi….friend."

Buffy blushed as she held Tara's hand reassuringly.

"And does your 'friend' know what you're going to become next year?" replied Mr. Maclay. "Does she know what you've always been?"

"I'm not a demon, Daddy," declared Tara. "I'm just….me."

"Is that how you justify your 'lifestyle', and the witchcraft?"

"Have you ever even  **seen**  a demon before, Mr. Maclay?" questioned Buffy. "Or a vampire? Because I have four years experience fighting them, and it's pretty obvious you couldn't tell one from your ass."

"No wonder my daughter has become so disrespectful," announced Mr. Maclay. "She's obviously associating with lunatics and sociopaths."

Buffy had heard enough, and she pulled out her sword. "I make it a policy to not kill regular humans, but I'm always willing to make an exception."

"Buffy, stop!" pleaded Tara. Turning to her father, she said, "Daddy, I'm going, and I'm taking these things because Momma wanted me to have them."

"I can't let you go, Tara," argued Mr. Maclay. "You're a threat to other people and yourself, especially if the rest of your friends are as delusional as this 'Buffy' here."

"Daddy," pleaded Tara before scowling. " **Dad**. It's my life to do with as I choose. And I want to help people."

"You can't help people," countered Tara's father. "You're a demon, and evil. Just like all of the women in your mother's family."

Tara could only sigh. The entire argument was just so….. **small**. She was a part of something so much bigger now. "No, Dad, we're not evil. We have a gift that you don't understand, and I'm using it to  **fight**  evil, not  **be**  evil." Picking up her new possessions, Tara walked up to her father and handed him her house key. "Goodbye," she announced before walking past her stunned blood relatives.

This left the three members of the Maclay clan alone with Buffy, who was still angry. "I'm only going to say this once: stay away from Tara. As far as you're concerned, she's a part of my family now, and I don't tolerate people who threaten my family."

Mr. Maclay noticed the necklace Buffy was wearing with a quiet fury in his eyes. "Yes, I guess you are. I just hope you realize what you've done before it's too late."

Buffy just rolled her eyes as she put away her sword and walked past Tara's family members. "Yeah, whatever."

* * *

Buffy exhaled loudly as she sat down in the passenger's seat of her mother's car. "Well, that was about as much fun as you can have without having any."

"Does this mean that we're not going to be having a double 'Daddy/Daughter Day' tomorrow?" deadpanned Tara before she looked at Buffy with a sly grin on her face.

Buffy responded with an incredulous glare before the absurdity of Tara's question sunk in, and she started to laugh. "So, the joint 'Father of the Year' award is out?"

Now Tara was laughing, too. "It's a good thing I wasn't able to schedule the parade." Eventually, the two calmed down, though they both were fighting back Cheshire Cat-level grins. "I don't know about you, Buffy, but I could use some food. I'm starved."

"Tara, I'm the Slayer," noted Buffy. "I require more food than three Xanders." Off Tara's curious look, she explained, "Yes, I'm hungry."

"OK," answered Tara as she started the car. "What kind of a lunch is your Dad buying us?"

Buffy had almost totally forgotten about the wad of cash her father had given her, and hastily pulled it out of her pocket. When she counted the bills, her eyes became like saucers. "He bought us  **Spago** ," answered Buffy, "for the next  **month**."

Tara slammed on the brakes. " **WHAT?!** "

"There's almost a thousand dollars here!" shouted Buffy gleefully.

"You're lying."

"Does  **this** ," declared Buffy as she shoved a wad of bills mostly populated with images of Benjamin Franklin and Ulysses S. Grant on them in Tara's face, "look like I'm lying?"

Tara's jaw dropped. Suffice to say, she had never seen this much money in one place before. However, she recovered quickly, and responded with a grin, "How does mall food sound?"

Buffy smiled broadly. "How does getting married today sound?"

Pouting and blushing furiously, Tara responded, "I-it's n-n-not legal f-for us."

"Curses!"

* * *

Later, with their appetites sated, Buffy and Tara got down to the important business of being teenage girls at the mall with an ungodly sum of money at their disposal. Despite being the day after Thanksgiving (and therefore insanely busy), there were plenty of things to consider. Buffy had quickly found some new shoes, and, to her surprise and glee, managed to talk Tara into a couple of pairs of heels (nothing too high, but Buffy considered it a victory nonetheless). Then, they had found a couple of tops for Willow ("Hanukkah is next week…..besides, she'd feel left out if we didn't get her something"), and Tara dragged Buffy into a video store and bought a couple of  _Doctor Who_  tapes ("for Giles"),  _Clerks_  and  _Repo Man_  ("for Xander"), and a couple of Bugs Bunny tapes ("for Anya", which Buffy declared to be cruel in between fits of laughter). They also stopped in a video game store and left with  _SimCity 3000_  and  _Descent 3_  for Willow.

While Buffy was looking at clothes in another store, Tara slipped away and bought a couple of things that had her blushing when she returned. "Where'd you run off to?" asked Buffy.

"I-I had to get you a Christmas p-present," admitted Tara nervously.

"Do I get a hint?" asked Buffy, quickly resorting to pouting adorably in an effort to get her way.

"Not a chance."

"Please?" begged Buffy, now in full pout mode. "Come  **on**!"

"If you keep making a scene, I'll return them," warned Tara half-seriously.

"Fine," declared Buffy petulantly, emphasizing her displeasure by sticking out her tongue at the witch when her back was turned.

Or so she thought. "I saw that."

The good times were not to last, however, as Buffy and Tara froze as they heard two distinctly familiar voices insulting them loudly and callously. "God, the people here right now are total  **losers**!" declared the first voice.

"You said it, Kim!" agreed the second voice. "I mean, look at those two! The one on the right has the whole 'Wal-Mart Chic' look going on, and the other one has this insane idea that 'hippie bohemian' is a valid fashion choice."

Buffy gritted her teeth as she listened to the exchange, and Tara gave her a supportive look before silently pleading the Slayer to let it go. Buffy, of course, was  **not**  one to walk away from a fight, so she turned around to face her former lackeys.

What she found only upset her even more. Neither Jennifer nor Kimberly was exactly fashionable by any standard, and besides Kimberly's continued insistence on those stupid twin buns, they looked like they had already peaked at eighteen. They both had poorly masked raccoon eyes, and Jennifer even looked a bit chubby, and not in the "I have a larger body type and I'm still totally gorgeous" way like Tara, either. Oh, and they had green and white nails, which certainly didn't fit in at USC, which was where the two assured the less-well-off Buffy that they were  **definitely**  going to after high school.

"Oh. My. God," declared Jennifer incredulously. "It's Buffy Summers and Tara Maclay."

"I didn't know that Macy's was having a sale on  **freaks** ," scoffed Kimberly.

"Well, maybe that's because you two spend all your time at the  **Loser Store** ," replied Tara, who was rather proud of herself for all of two seconds.

"Aw, did you think of that all by yourself?" replied Jennifer acidly. "At least you're not st-st-st-stuttering anymore."

Buffy, being well aware how self conscious Tara was about her now largely conquered stutter, didn't need to look at her to know that she was frowning. She also was beyond furious. "At least Tara knows that slathering on ten pounds of makeup isn't going to hide the dark circles under your eyes, Jennifer. Or that the Minnie Mouse hairdo is  **over** , Kimberly." With Jennifer and Kimberly's smiles now wiped from their faces, Buffy decided to hammer them once and for all. "I mean, I get it, you've probably given it up to every desirable guy at Hemery, and a few of the undesirables, too, and now no one wants to be near either of you….."

"Oh, yeah, because you two have such high standards," sneered Kimberly. "Tara spent half of junior and all of senior year being an enormous lesbo slut with about half the girls in school, and I'm sure you weren't very choosy, either,  **Buffy**."

"A-at least I d-didn't have to f-fake my orgasms," fired back Tara, impressing Buffy greatly. "Maybe if you worried more about making yourselves happy and less about what other people are doing, you wouldn't be sitting in the mall on your lunch break while you try to put yourselves through community college."

Jennifer and Kimberly were shocked into speechlessness as Tara left, with Buffy rushing behind in an effort to catch up.

* * *

"….and then Tara was like, 'How do you like them apples, huh?' as she walked away!" Tara had a study session, so it was just her and Willow on patrol…..and constant talk about Tara.

"So, you guys had fun, then?" asked Willow.

"Never underestimate the healing power of free shopping sprees, Will," beamed Buffy. "Plus,  **all**  my Christmas-"

Willow glared.

"- **and**  Hannukah shopping," declared the blonde, earning a smile from Willow, "is  **done**."

"Wow," replied Willow, "Tara's got you whipped into shape. On top of Slaying, your grades are super awesome, and now you've even got your holiday shopping done way ahead of time. You don't wanna let me borrow her, like, maybe, for the rest of my life, by any chance?"

Buffy growled (literally) at her best friend. "You already have Xander! And  **me**! No fair hogging all the friends!"

"You guys don't help my grades," pouted Willow.

"Like you need help with your grades," replied Buffy. "Besides, I need something safe and normal in my life for once. The bad boy thing is  **so**  overrated. It's like I'm drawn to fight against someone instead of fighting  **with**  them." Suddenly a vampire appeared, but Buffy effortlessly staked it as she and Willow continued on unfazed. "I wonder where I get that from?"


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back in the episode re-telling phase here with "Something Blue", though this time it's going to be a little bit darker (but still with some of the funny from the actual episode). Also, we're in the really, for reals home stretch here.

Buffy had thought that Willow was handling Oz being gone pretty well. Sure, the hills weren't exactly alive with the Sound of Music, but she seemed fine, and she was getting close with Xander again (and Buffy found herself thinking that yes, they'd still be a great couple). But then she returned to her dorm room  **very**  early in the morning after patrol (and after falling asleep in Tara's arms in the witch's dorm room), she found Xander comforting a devastated Willow. Apparently, Oz had sent out for the rest of his things….without talking to her at all. So, now, Buffy was commiserating with Tara and Xander.

"I can't believe he'd do that!" replied Tara, who was visibly upset. "That's the sort of thing you do when you hate someone, not love them!" Buffy, having seen Tara attempt the exact same thing just days earlier, gave her a knowing look. "See, I should know!"

Xander, naturally, was confused. Explaining, Buffy said, "After I had my little chat with Angel, Tara snuck into her house when her family was gone, and grabbed a bunch of stuff."

"You're a bad girl, Tara," joked Xander.

"In my defense, my family kinda sucks," pointed out Tara. Changing the subject, she added, "I worry about Willow, though. She's in a lot of pain, but she's also a really powerful witch, and getting stronger all the time. She could hurt a lot of people if we don't help her…..have a wonderful time?"

Buffy and Xander turned to see what Tara was looking at, and found Willow dancing happily with a bunch of people. It appeared as if she was a lot more resilient than they had believed.

"Wow," declared Buffy, voicing her confusion. "Way to rebound."

Xander, being Xander, had a much deeper insight into his best friend's state of mind. "I believe that is the dance of a brave little toaster."

For her part, Willow noticed her audience and bounded over happily before declaring, "Hey! Come on you guys-the music is great!"

Optimistically, Xander replied, "Nice to see you brought your boogie shoes tonight, Will."

"Yeah," acknowledged Willow, "I know I've been a party poop lately. So I said to myself-'Self'- I said, 'time to shake and shimmy it off!'"

Buffy was a bit thrown off, but said, "Sounds like a good policy."

"Yep," answered the redhead, "And it works, too." Willow reached for her coat, which was draped on one of the stools at the table, and continued, "I just figure in the grand scheme of things, we're all-"

Suddenly, a beer bottle fell to the floor from Willow's jacket with a distinctive clinking noise.

"…..drunk?" questioned Buffy, finishing Willow's sentence.

Tara and Xander were horrified, with the former now visibly on the verge of tears. However, Willow merely grabbed the bottle and hid it right back into her coat before announcing in an obviously drunk fashion, "Drunk is a pretty strong word. Kind of an Anglo-Saxon word. Guttural. 'Drunk.'"

"Will, not loving the drowning of the sorrows," declared Xander tersely.

"Not drowning,"answered Willow defensively. "Wading." Showing the bottle off as if it was a prize, she said, "See? Light. No big."

"No!" shouted Tara. " **Big**! We're your friends, Willow, and we're here for you. But you can't just drink away your pain like this. All it does is just lead to more hurting. And sometimes it ends up being you that does the hurting."

Tara's words hit a raw nerve with Xander, and he was pretty close to tears himself. Trying to diffuse the situation, he said, "How's about you give me the beer."

This set Willow off, almost to the point of outright rage. "No! Why should I? I've got pain here. Big time, legitimate pain-"

"We've all got pain, Will-" started Xander.

"Like what?" argued Willow viciously. "'Poor me, I live in a basement?' Oh, yeah-that's dire!"

Tara hugged Xander supportively as he struggled not to cry. Buffy grabbed Willow and pulled her away, announcing, "I'm taking you home now."

"I don't want to-"

"You'll thank me when you still have a friend left in the morning," answered Buffy harshly, but correctly.

The words had an effect, and Willow eased off her rage a bit. "I just can't stand feeling this way. I want it to be over."

"And it will be," replied Buffy, speaking from experience. "I promise. But it's going to take some time."

"That's not good enough," moaned Willow despondently.

Sympathizing, Buffy said, "I know. But that's how it is. You have to go through the pain."

"Isn't there some way I can make it go away? Just 'cause I say so? Can't I make it go poof?"

Buffy frowned as she led her friend outside, unable to think of a good enough answer.

* * *

Xander's head hit the table with a sad BONK as his emotions finally overcame him. "It's OK," soothed Tara. "She didn't mean it. She's just….."

"Drunk," declared Xander hopelessly as he lifted his head. "She means more to me than anything else, Tara. It kills me to see her acting like…."

"…..your parents?" said Tara, finishing his sentence. "Xander, Willow needs us-she needs  **you** -more than ever. But you have to be strong for her. I can help her with the magic, but you're the only one who can help with her heart."

"Yes, because I'm so good with that," scoffed Xander. "She needs someone who isn't going to break her heart."

"She needs her best friend, Xander," argued Tara, "And I hear you have some experience in that area."


	22. Chapter 22

The next night, Buffy returned to her and Willow's dorm room, and while Willow wasn't drunk, she was upset. In her extreme grief, Willow had forgotten to go over to Giles' apartment to perform a truth spell on Spike. And, Giles being Giles, stopped by to scold Willow for not being responsible, even though he had already asked Tara to help with the spell earlier. However, by the time Tara arrived and Anya returned from work, Spike had managed to escape, and Giles was nursing yet another head injury.

"Why didn't you wait for Tara?" scolded Anya. "You could have been killed."

"I thought that Spike was still having trouble performing," replied Tara, unable to hide her prurient grin.

"With all of the head trauma that Rupert suffers helping Buffy, I don't have very much faith in his ability to stay alive," answered Anya.

"You two realize that I'm right here, correct?" asked Giles, his voice dripping with venom.

"Yes, and you know I'm right," declared Anya defiantly. "If you die, there won't be anyone to give me orgasms." Giles visibly winced at his girlfriend's bluntness. "Besides, I care. You're sweet and kind and smart, and you didn't reject me, unlike Xander." Giles blushed.

Luckily for Tara, the front door flew open, interrupting the Giles/Anya lovefest. Tara instantly smiled when she saw Buffy pushing a restrained Spike inside.

"Watchit!" shouted Spike.

"One more word out of you and I swear-"

"Swear what?" sneered the vampire. "You're not going to do anything to me. You don't have the stones."

"Oh, I've got the stones," answered Buffy defiantly. "I've got a whole…..bunch of stones."

"Yeah, you're all talk," declared Spike.

"She killed Harmony," noted Tara.

"Like that was hard," scoffed Spike. "I almost did it about a dozen times myself."

* * *

Willow's rage over getting chewed out by Giles and then abandoned by Buffy so she could chase after Spike was reaching a boiling point, and Xander was getting a front row seat for the action. And as much as he tried, there was no reasoning with her as she paced furiously around his basement apartment. "Spike's more important than Willow," she declared angrily. "I get it."

"Buffy's gotta find out what's up with those commandoes," reasoned Xander, to little avail. "Right now she needs Spike!"

"Well fine!" replied Willow petulantly. "Why doesn't she just go marry him?" With that bit of hyperbole, Willow's eyes flashed, but Xander, having just about reached his limit, completely failed to notice.

* * *

Giles, Anya, and Tara were beyond flabbergasted. What had been a heated argument between Buffy and Spike was now…..a marriage proposal? While Anya was dismissive, Giles took off his glasses and started rubbing his eyes. Tara, however, was awash in a sea of emotions: confusion, rejection, and a heaping dose of rage.

As Spike remained on one knee holding her left hand, Buffy fought to hold back tears of joy. "It's just so…..So sudden! I don't know what to say!"

 _Say_ ** _no_** _!_  thought Tara venomously as she held back her own tears while gripping a chair back so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

"Just say yes," replied Spike, "and make me the happiest man on earth."

"Oh, Spike! Of course it's yes!"

With the affirmative answer, Spike stood and embraced Buffy as they shared a long, passion-filled kiss. Unable to take it anymore, Tara swiped a stake from the table, and lunged at Spike, her pupils literally darkening with rage.


	23. Chapter 23

"It's just not fair," groused Willow.

"Will," soothed Xander, "I know it's hard to see I right now. But everything you're feeling is 'cause of you and Oz. Not 'cause of Buffy or me or anybody. But, eventually you'll fall for someone else and it'll be better."

"Because most relationships are great and trouble-free, right?" argued Willow. "I don't think so. I think we're all doomed to badness."

"We're not doomed," replied Xander.

"Oh yeah," scoffed Willow, "let's look at your bio: Mummy girl. Insect lady."

"You," Xander declared, interrupting her rant.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Sorry, it doesn't count when I'm the one who's in love and you're clueless."

"Because last fall was just an elaborate hallucination," replied Xander bitterly.

"That was just hormones," answered Willow. "I bet you would forget that I even existed if you were  **really**  in love with me." With that statement, Willow's eyes flashed for a moment, and Xander's entire attitude and body language shifted as he sat down with a sad, far away look in his eyes, all while not even acknowledging Willow's presence in the room. "Great," she said with a pout, "Now you're mad at me, too."

* * *

All eyes were on Tara as she sat down with arms crossed and a hard look on her face that was directed squarely at Buffy and Spike. It had taken both Giles and Anya to restrain and calm down the blonde witch, and even then she was still a bit riled up. "OK, so lunging at Spike was a bit….."

"…..insane?" completed Anya.

"I was thinking 'rash' myself, if that helps you feel any better," replied Giles, who was constantly rubbing his eyes and blinking, as if there was something in them.

"It's just that I'm pretty sure…..Mr. Giles, is everything alright?"

"I, uh…..it's just something in my eyes," answered Giles, deflecting attention away from his predicament. "Besides," he added while motioning towards Buffy and Spike, "I'm not sure I want to see well right now."

As if on cue, Buffy emerged from the kitchen with a coffee mug, which she handed to Spike before snuggling up to him. "Here you go, Sweetie. Ninety-eight point six."

"M-maybe we should call Willow," offered Tara helpfully.

"Yes, because there's no way that that could possibly backfire," sneered Anya, as her distaste for the redhead maintained its usual obviousness.

"I'm not sure that I can handle this by myself," countered Tara. "Besides, we don't know if the weirdness isn't spreading."

"What makes you think that-"

Tara picked up a placemat and threw it towards Giles' face. There was no reaction from the ex-Watcher until after it smacked him. "That's not funny."

The two women snickered anyways.

"Tara, just call Willow," scolded Giles.

She complied, but only got the answering machine. Ending the call before the greeting was finished, Tara dialed another number. "Xander, is Willow there with you?"

* * *

"Who?" asked Xander. "Isn't 'Willow' a tree?"

Willow was now beyond annoyed. " **Hey**! I'm right here!"

She was also being completely ignored.

* * *

"J-just come to Mr. Giles' apartment, O-ok?" answered Tara, whose face was becoming increasingly pale.

* * *

"I'll be there in a few minutes," replied Xander. "Uh, why? I think Cordelia's rubbed off on you, Tara."

Willow stifled a chuckle as she imagined the fairly absurd concept of Tara being like Queen C.

" **Fine**. I'm going to Giles' house," declared Xander loudly.

Clearly, Tara was trying to get through to Willow, which meant that something weird was up. "Anya's demon friends are probably here to suck out Xander and Giles' souls or something," groused Willow as her eyes flashed yet again.

* * *

"OK, we'll see you in a few minutes. Bye." Tara set down the receiver and frowned. "Xander doesn't know who Willow is."

"Well, that's not such a bad thing," declared Anya with her typical lack of tact. Tara and Giles responded with harsh looks towards the ex-demon. "What? You know I'm right. I bet this is all Willow's fault."

Having somehow extracted herself willfully from Spike, Buffy took the opportunity to cheerfully sit down beside Giles. "Giles? Did you see my ring?"

"Thankfully, not very well," he answered with a dry sarcasm.

Tara felt like she was going to throw up.

"Giles," continued Buffy, "I…..I'm not crazy; I know you probably don't approve….and my Dad's not that far away, I could probably….but this day is about family, my real family. And I want it to be you that gives me away."

Tara stood up and glared at Buffy for a good minute, trying to think of what to say. Finally, she started to speak. "Buffy, I…." But even then, the words quickly disappeared, and Tara made a hasty retreat to Giles' bathroom.


	24. Chapter 24

Tara stood in front of Giles' sink with her hands gripped onto its sides with teeth gritted as she tried to steady herself, and to figure out what had happened.  _Mr. Giles can't see, Buffy and Spike are in love, and Xander can't see Willow or remember that she exists._  She wracked her brain to figure out the connection between herself, Anya, and Willow.  _We're all women, but Buffy is affected. We've all used magic, but that's everyone except Spike._  She eliminated sexuality for obvious reasons, and natural hair color was out on account of Willow being a redhead.

_What am I missing?_

* * *

With no warning at all, the front door to Giles' apart opened, revealing Xander. But not the warm, flippant Xander that the other Scoobies knew. He looked cold, as if a piece of his soul had been ripped from him, and he walked as if he was merely existing, and not living life.

Without looking back, Xander pushed the door closed, and with a mighty…..

WHAM!

…..it hit Willow right in the nose as she was walking through the doorway.

" **OW**!" she shouted. One look at Willow's face made it crystal clear that this was but one of many slights she had suffered due to Xander not being aware of her existence.

"So, what's the big deal?" asked Xander bitterly. Upon noticing that Spike wasn't tied up, he added, "And why isn't Spike tied up?"

Having heard Willow's cry, Tara returned to the now increasingly crowded living room. She gasped at Xander's suddenly cold expression, and didn't even dare to read his aura. "Xander?"

Returning her sympathetic look with a hard glare, Xander simply looked away without a word.

Willow, for her part, noticed that there was something a bit  **friendly**  going on between Buffy and Spike. "Uh, Buffy, why are you all up in Spike's personal space today?"

"They have to hear it sooner or later," whispered Spike to the Slayer.

After taking a deep breath, Buffy declared happily, "Spike and I are getting married!"

Willow was shocked. "How? What? How?"

Dryly, Giles replied, "Three excellent questions."

Xander was far less pleased, to say the least. "You're getting married to a cold-blooded killer?" he sneered. "And he doesn't even have that stupid excuse about having a soul that Deadboy does."

"I'm sure this is all interesting to someone," declared a voice that Anya recognized even before she turned her attention away from Giles, "but me and some friends of mine were promised a little….snack."

While the others were not familiar with what the brunette's overly veiny features meant, Anya knew, just as she knew who this woman was. "Halfrek?" she asked, not understanding why she was here. Then, on a dime her expression went from confusion to joy. "What took you so long to show up?"

"Hey," answered Halfrek with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "some of us still have  **real**  jobs." Glancing at Xander, she added, "Besides, it looks like we've already caught you snacking."

As she walked towards Anya, Halfrek froze as she saw Spike. In a low voice, she asked, "William?"

"Hey, wait a minute," replied Spike with a suspicious glare at the demon.

"You guys know each other?" asked Buffy with a tinge of jealousy.

"Uh, no," answered Halfrek evasively. "No."

"Not really," confirmed Spike.

Having had a few moments to think things through, the situation made a lot more sense to Tara. "It's Willow!" she announced. "She did this somehow!"

Giles had begun to understand as well. "She said she did a spell to have her will done. She didn't think that it had worked."

"But she was wrong," continued Buffy. I probably only escaped it because I'm the Slayer. Some kind of natural immunity."

"Yes," hissed Xander, "because you and Spike are  **so**  right for each other."

"Look who's talking!" shouted Buffy indignantly. "You don't even realize that Willow exists! For all we know, it's affected your memories of me and Spike together these last few months!"

Anya looked around, and noticed that something was missing. "Where is Willow, anyways? She was just here."

Pointing at the blacked circle on the floor, Halfrek said, "It looks like your friend has a job interview right now."

* * *

Willow was completely disoriented. One moment, she's in Giles' apartment, and the next she's in a black room or something with this blue, horned demon?

After a moment seemingly designed solely to make Willow uncomfortable, the demon spoke. "You have much anger and pain. Your magic is strong, but your pain….it's like a scream that pierces dimensional walls. We heard your call."

"I'm sorry," replied Willow contritely. "I'll try for a quiet rage. Bye." Turning to leave, Willow found that there was no exit.

"Our intention is not to quash your potential," he explained. "Quite the contrary."

Willow faced the demon again, now even more confused.

* * *

"You  **what**?!" asked Buffy incredulously.

"She didn't stutter like Tara over there," sneered Anya. "She and our friends-" Anya motioned to the half dozen demons of varying types that has just entered through the front door "-are here to feast on the souls of Giles and Xander. And maybe everyone else if we're still hungry afterwards."

"Well," murmured Giles, "I can't say I didn't ask for this."

* * *

The demon towered over Willow in an imposing fashion, which only made her more nervous. "The pain and suffering you brought upon those you love has been inspired. You are ready to join us, here in Arashmaharr."

Willow was truly stunned. "Pain? What pain?"

* * *

Once again, there was an all-out melee in Giles' living room. Giles himself was on the floor, crawling towards something, anything, to grab onto so he could get back on his feet. Buffy was in the arms of a particularly large and muscular demon (and not in the creepily romantic way that she had been spending with Spike, either), while Spike was getting pummeled by a smaller demon thanks to the chip in his head. Xander was actually fairing a bit better, but primarily because he was fighting ruthlessly and taking massive risks with his safety. Tara, finding herself unable to cast any spells in such tight quarters, was forced to fight hand-to-hand, and was mostly being tossed aside in a rather humbling assessment of her fighting abilities.

* * *

In the black void, Willow was being shown the losing battle, and was justifiably appalled. "Oh. God. But I didn't mean to-"

"But you did," replied Willow's host. "This is the result of your power. You will make a fine Vengeance Demon."

"No," declared Willow. "You-you have to help them."

The demon waved his hand and the vision of the battle disappeared. "It is not my concern. You are my interest in the matter."

"Really," affirmed Willow. "No offense intended, I mean, you've been super nice and everything….But, I don't want to be a demon. I want to go back and help my friends."

The response was not received happily. "That is your answer?"

Despite knowing that she was skating on thin ice, Willow held firm. "It is."

After a tense moment, the tension of the situation completely deflated when the demon pulled a talisman out of his pocket and announced in a jovial fashion, "I'm sorry to hear that. Oh, well. Here's my talisman. You change your mind, give us a chant." With the token in Willow's hands, the demon waved his hand once more, and she was gone.

* * *

By now, Xander was tied up, Giles unconscious, and Tara restrained, leaving only Buffy and Spike fighting against Anya and her friends. With the situation hopeless, the Slayer and vampire embraced, and started kissing desperately and passionately.

With a flash, Willow returned to the spot where she had been previously, and immediately grimaced. Now feeling thoroughly guilty, she started to chant. "Let the healing power begin. Let my will be safe again. As these words of peace are spoken, let this harmful spell….be broken."

With a flash of light, the spell was broken, and all of the demons disappeared, and Xander's bonds broken. He was the first to register the change, as his attitude did a complete 180, and he practically tackled his best friend. "Willow!" he shouted, fully relieved.

Willow could only smile weakly and artificially.

As Giles expressed silent relief at his returned sight and Anya glared angrily at Willow, Buffy and Spike were still kissing as the spell wore off. They both froze for a moment before pulling away swiftly with looks of utter revulsion on their faces.

"Euwww! Oh bloody hell!" shouted Spike.

While spitting repeatedly, Buffy declared, "Spike lips, lips of Spike…."

With Xander still latched onto her, Willow announced sheepishly, "Hi guys."

Rather than respond, Buffy just continued spitting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters left, and the whopping majority is written. But before that, I'll be posting updated versions of the prior chapters, to fix lapses in grammar and spelling.


	25. Chapter 25

As soon as Spike was tied up (and Buffy was talked down from staking him on the grounds that he loathed the magic-induced romance as much as she had), there was the matter of Willow's "will be done" spell to discuss. Everyone else was content to accept the redhead's contriteness, but not Tara. She was thoroughly convinced that this was a sign of dangerous behavior, and wasn't about to let Willow off the hook.

"Willow, what were you hoping to achieve by casting that spell?"

"I just wanted the pain to stop," she admitted.

"That's not what magic is for," replied Tara. "It's not about personal gain. That way leads to darkness."

"You make it sound like Will's going to turn into Darth Vader," declared Xander, who had managed to release Willow from the bear hug, but still insisted on holding her hand. Responding to Giles' withering look, he added, "You can't just repeat a bunch of things that Yoda said and pass it off as valid arguments for real life."

"Who?" asked Tara.

Everyone was surprised by Tara's question, even Anya and Spike. "Seriously?" asked Buffy. "You've never seen  _Star Wars_?" Tara nodded with a hint of shame, and the Slayer answered, "Well, we're changing that this weekend. But I have to say that it  **is**  exactly like the Force: once you go bad, it's pretty much impossible to turn good again. I mean, look at Faith. After the thing with Finch, she fell off the deep end."

Willow, still being extremely sore about the subject of Faith, was indignant. "Hey, I'm not some out of control skank doing bad stuff. I'm….me. And I'm not using magic to get ahead in life."

Xander shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "What about the spell you were going to cast on Oz and Veruca? Or the de-lusting spell to try and end our Fluking? Because those sound a lot like you using your powers to take a shortcut on the hard parts of you life, Will."

The de-lusting spell was news to everyone else, and was not greeted happily at all. Squirming under the withering glares, Willow said, "Guys, I'm not out of control.  **Honest**."

Tara in particular wasn't buying it. "Willow, that's three times you've tried to alter the minds of people. Two of them involving Xander. Your  **best friend**. How are we supposed to believe that everything's alright when you're willing to manipulate the person you care about the most?"

The cracks in Willow's facade were starting to show. "I wasn't trying to hurt anyone…."

"But you kind of did, Will," answered Xander. "You made me forget you. Fourteen years of my life…..gone. Every good memory, every warm feeling, and you took it away, all because you were upset. That's a pretty scary amount of power to have."

Willow and Xander fell silent, but the conversation continued wordlessly. Whatever was being communicated took its toll on them both, as Xander ended up on the verge of tears, and Willow went from upset to depressed to sobbing in about a minute and a half. There was no malice on Xander's part (as if there ever could be when it concerned Willow), and he wrapped an arm around her supportively as she regained her composure.

"I…..I need help."

* * *

Willow's admission, and the sobering discussion about her relationships with magic and power, left her physically and emotionally drained. So much so, in fact, that the discussion ended when she started to nod off. Xander ended up just picking her up and carrying her.

"You don't have to take her home," replied Giles. "Willow is perfectly welcome to sleep on the couch."

"Are you serious?" asked Anya. She's a threat to all of us, and you're just happy with her sleeping on your couch?" Her harshest criticism, however, was for Xander. "How can you still be doting after Willow?"

"It's Willow." Anya didn't-or wouldn't bother to-understand the weight behind behind the two word statement, so Xander elaborated. "I just got a crash course on just how important Willow is to me, while you once tried to use her to become a demon again. I think that's enough of an explanation, don't you?" With some difficulty, he opened the door without disturbing Willow. "You know, this was a lot easier when Will was twelve," he muttered under his breath.

"I'll pretend I never heard that," said Buffy knowingly.

Xander smiled as he realized that she was probably right. "Goodnight, Buffy."

"Goodnight, Xander." Once he was out of sight, Buffy announced, "Are you ready to go, Tara?"

Tara nodded. "Y-yes."

"Good," declared Buffy and Spike simultaneously, to the horror and disgust of both, prompting the Slayer to rush out of the apartment as fast as possible.

* * *

Safely alone in Tara's dorm room, Buffy proceeded to absolutely flip out in front of Tara over her magically-induced engagement to Spike. "Ew ew ew ew ew!"

Tara couldn't help but find Buffy's panicking funny, and more than a bit cute. "Oh, it couldn't have been that bad," she teased.

"Yes it was!" shouted Buffy. "I kissed  **Spike**! And I  **liked**  it!"

"A-aren't you supposed to like it?" asked Tara as she sat down on her bed. Responding to Buffy's confused and revolted look she added, "Kissing a boy, I mean."

"Well, yeah," answered Buffy as she sat down. "But Spike? Sure, it could have been worse-it could have been Riley, or Giles…." Buffy shuddered at the very idea.

"Why?" asked Tara. "Giles is pretty sexy."

" **EW**!" shouted the Slayer. "He's like my Dad! I can't have my girlfr…." Buffy trailed off, suddenly spooked by what she almost said.

Tara's heart fluttered. Taking Buffy's hand in her own, she looked down for a second before asking nervously, "W-w-what w-w-were y-you g-going to s-say?"

Buffy blushed deeply, and fumbled with her words. "I-I…..w-w-well…."

In an almost unheard of act of rash bravery, the blonde witch leaned in and kissed Buffy on the lips. It was a gentle, tentative kiss, but it made Tara's heart race at a million miles a minute. After ending the kiss, she stayed in her leaning position, savoring the moment with her eyes closed. Everything seemed utterly perfect.

And then Buffy returned the kiss. Unlike Tara's chasteness, Buffy's kiss was filled with passion, need…..and more than a little bit of tongue. However, all things must end, and when they stopped, Tara started grinning, but Buffy was frightened to her core. "Tara! I-I-I…."

"It's OK, Baby," assured the witch.

"B-b-but I'm not…" started the Slayer. "But I kissed you…."

"Buffy, are you alright?" asked Tara, trying to prevent a full-blown meltdown.

Looking as if she was on the verge of crying, Buffy replied, "I'm not…. **gay**. I swear I'm not!" Standing up, she started pacing around nervously. "But I've fallen in love with a  **girl**! And nothing makes sense anymore!"

Tara suddenly found herself on Cloud 9. "Y-you're  **in**  love….w-with  **me**?"

"Yes!" shouted Buffy, clearly exasperated. "Part of me is screaming that I'm sick, and a freak, and the other part of me just wants to skip ahead to the part where I'm kissing you again." Buffy turned her attention back to Tara, and saw that the witch was blushing, beet red, and desperately fighting back tears of joy. "Tara, can I just be kissing you now?"

Tara nodded tearfully. "Yes."


	26. Chapter 26

After a torrid night of passion, Tara's dorm room looked as if a dryer had exploded. Clothes were literally everywhere, with the most absurd thing being a bra somehow hanging from the ceiling. At the center of this tempest was one perfectly contented blonde Vampire Slayer, who was currently nuzzling into the body of her more voluptuous lover.

"I'm never leaving this spot, Tara."

"What are we going to do about eating?"

"We can have food delivered."

"What about school?"

"You can teach me."

Tara giggled. "You mean last night wasn't enough?"

"Never."

"So, when are we going to let everyone know about….us?"

Buffy gave her lover a puzzled look. "You mean we didn't let everyone know last night?"

Tara considered the detail of their collective volume over the previous night, and ultimately shrugged in admission of the validity of Buffy's argument. "Well, maybe, but it's probably best if we actually  **tell**  them."

"And keeping it a secret is out of the question," replied Buffy. "Not that I'd ever be able to keep my feelings a secret." Blushing, Buffy added, "Well, not anymore."

Tara smiled before kissing Buffy deeply. "Who's to say that I don't want to keep you all to myself for a while longer?" she joked.

"You better not be thinking about turning down any of  **my**  kisses, missy," scolded the Slayer jokingly.

"As good as they are," answered Tara, "and they are  **very**  good," she continued with a lustful moan, "we still need to get out of bed."

"Oh,  **fine** ," replied Buffy with an overexagerated pout. "Do what you have to do, and I'll make the phone calls. But  **hurry**."

Tara chuckled as she got out of bed and prepared for her shower.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Buffy was dressed, and had called Willow, her mother, and Giles. None of the three conversations had done anything positive for the Slayer's confidence. Willow almost instinctively picked up on Buffy's nervousness, and amplified it with her own. Buffy could only hope that Xander would be able to calm her down a bit before they both arrived at Buffy and Willow's dorm room to receive the news.

And then was the matter of her Mom. Joyce's old habit of saying, "Are you in trouble?" first returned, and she and Giles both somehow managed to refer to That Which Must Not Be Discussed in reference to each other. So, by the time Tara returned from her shower, Buffy was seriously on edge.

"Are we ready to go?" asked Tara hopefully.

"Willow and Xander are going to stop by my dorm room in about half an hour," answered Buffy with absolutely no confidence in her voice. "So, I've got just enough time to get cleaned up myself before I tell them, and then we go home and tell Mom and Giles."

"But…..?" asked Tara, correctly catching onto her lover's apprehension.

"What if they aren't happy for me? What if they call me a freak?"

"Sweetie," admonished Tara, "Can you seriously say that Xander will reject you?"

Buffy's eyes shot wide open as she gasped. Xander Harris, who already carried a torch for her the size of Rhode Island, upset that she was now dating a  **girl**? And that that girl was Tara? "Oh my God, I'll never hear the end of it!"

Tara smiled. "See? You're guaranteed to have his approval. And his arousal."

"Oh, gross!"

"You can't fault him for his taste," pointed out the witch with a slight leer. "But you know that once he deals with our having sex, he'll be nothing but a Sweetie to us."

"But-"

"But nothing," admonished the witch. "Xander would gouge out an eye before betraying you. And don't even get me started on Willow."  _Or your Mom. Or Mr. Giles._  Buffy started to open her mouth, but Tara was having none of it. "It'll be fine, Buffy. I-I promise."  _Please, Goddess, let me be right._

Heartened by her girlfriend's reassuring words, "OK." Standing up, Buffy said, "I guess we should go now, so I can be not dirty and smelly for Willow and Xander."

"I-I wasn't going to say anything, but now that you mention it…."

"Shush, or you get no smoochies later on," scolded Buffy as she opened the door to Tara's dorm room.

"Liar."

"Curses, foiled again!"

* * *

Willow and Xander sat down next to each other in Buffy and Willow's dorm room with a nervous shared look. Willow was the first to speak. "So, Buffy, what was the big rush? Is it something demony, or maybe with the Army guys?"

"Yeah, Buff," added Xander, "what's with the secrecy? And if it's some big news that you have for us, why is Tara here?" Apologetically, he added, "No offense, Tare."

Tara, who seemed almost as jittery as Buffy, simply smiled sheepishly for a moment while she toyed with the fringes of her shirt.

"Well," answered Buffy, who continued pacing in front of her friends nervously, "it kind of has to do with Tara. You, uh, know how I've been hanging out with her for a while now?"

Willow and Xander nodded, still uncertain as to what was going on.

"Well, you see," continued Buffy, "At first, it was about trying to make up for all of the mean things I did to her at Hemery, and then, we became really good friends, and then, all of a sudden, we started to realize things about each other…."

Willow and Xander shared a confused look. More like a "What the hell if Buffy talking about?" look, to be honest.

"…and well, things started to get serious, and now, well, we wanted to tell you that we're a couple now."

Buffy held out her left arm slightly, and then Tara moved beside Buffy and took hold of Buffy's left hand with her right. And suddenly, Willow and Xander realized what Buffy was saying, and were stunned into silence.

"Guys?" begged the Slayer, now fearful that her friends did not approve of her relationship with Tara. "Is everything alright?"

Willow and Xander smiled awkwardly, trying (and failing) to put on a brave face. Once again, Willow was the first to find her voice. "W-wow, Buffy. This…..this is pretty big news. Right, Xander?"

"Yes," agreed Xander, nodding vigorously as he did his damnedest to blot out the impure thoughts that marked him as a nineteen year old male.

"So, you guys are OK?" Buffy stood shakily, still frightened that her best friends would reject her.

"Yes!" agreed the two friends, nodding a bit too vigorously.

"Thank you!" declared Buffy as she let go of Tara and embraced both Willow and Xander, relieved tears streaming down her and Tara's face all the while. "You're the best friends  **ever**!"

Willow and Xander smiled, too, as they started crying happy tears for their friend, mixed in with the relief that Buffy had finally found someone she could be happy with, guilt and pain free. The moment was broken, however, when Xander spoke up.

"Buffy, could you let us breathe now?"

* * *

"Mom, Giles, you've both met Tara…..what do you think of her?"

The two adults hemmed and hawed for a moment, less out of disapproval than of confusion. "Well, I think that she's a wonderful young woman, Buffy," answered Joyce.

"Y-y-yes," stammered Giles. "She's a perfectly fine girl." Knowing that she had been part of the Scoobies for a while, Buffy's Watcher asked, "If I may, why are you asking now?"

"Well," admitted Buffy as Tara walked down the stairs and joined her, "It's because Tara and I are….dating."

Buffy's mother and Giles took the news more in stride than Willow and Xander, but they were still shocked by the news. True to form, Giles started polishing his glasses nervously while Joyce struggled to find the proper words. The pause was enough to cause Buffy and Tara to squirm once more.

Thankfully, Joyce rose from the couch and embraced her daughter. "Oh, Buffy, this is great news!" She then hugged an incredibly embarrassed Tara before immediately starting to fuss. "We need to have dinner to celebrate! Have you told Willow and Xander yet? I know, we can invite them over, too, and you can tell them! Oh, my goodness, I have to go to the store!"

Buffy and Tara giggled as the tension left their bodies. "Mom, calm down. Willow and Xander know."

"W-we told them before we came here," added Tara helpfully.

"Good, good," answered Joyce, before running into the kitchen for no discernible reason.

"Congratulations, Buffy, Tara," offered Giles, now fully recovered from the shock. In an ever-so-British fashion, he shook both of their hands, and then declared, "I guess I had better calm your mother down, then," before following her into the kitchen, horrifying Buffy in the process.

"There will be no sex with my mother in there, Giles!"


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Wait, Garrett," you say, "but you marked the story, 'Complete'." I LIED.

The hastily prepared dinner was a smashing success, with everyone rallying behind the happy couple. Joyce fussed over Tara and her stutter (as well as Tara's constant use of "Mrs. Summers"), Xander made inappropriate jokes, Willow bounced around excitedly, Giles muttered and flustered his entire way through the evening, and Anya….was Anya (and boy was telling Joyce about her and Giles ever awkward). But for Buffy and Tara, it was mostly a night to bask in the love of their friends and family and for each other.

After everyone left, Buffy and Tara snuggled upstairs on Buffy's bed, watching TV and sharing the occasional kiss. However, at one point, Tara asked a question of her new girlfriend: "Buffy, I was wondering something."

"Hmm?" replied Buffy as she idly stroked Tara's hair.

"I-is it just me, or do you also think we should set up Willow and Xander? You know, as a couple?"

Buffy grinned eagerly at the idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that's a sequel hook. For an unwritten, untitled string of sequels for which I do have an ending planned, as well as a few character beats planned. These include: Buffy and Tara as match makers, the Initiative and Riley, Oz returning, Faith, and enough Buffy/Tara sweetness to make your teeth rot.


End file.
